


Heroes come in all Forms

by orphan_account



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Multi, i desperately wanted an au of this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:36:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 46,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2847881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sunggyu spent the first seventeen years of his life snuggled in thick wool coats.  He learned the difference between fish native to their waters in school. His mind was set on becoming a trader ever since he turned seven. He also learned never to mess with the fire nation. Sunggyu never imagined life a different way.  But when Myungsoo, one of the few water benders left in their tribe, comes to him with a dream, Sunggyu can’t find it in him to say no.  </p><p>"Hyung? I wanna do something." </p><p>"What’s that Myung?"</p><p>"Save the world."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Myungsoo whines when Sunggyu smacks him across the head.  “Stop messing with the water!” He nags, “You’re scaring off the goods!” Myungsoo’s been tapping his foot on the ice for the past hour out of sheer boredom.

Myungsoo pouts and spits out an apology.  But he feels guilty when he sees the tired redness in Sunggyu’s eyes, and the redness in his cheeks from the biting cold.   He knows that Sunggyu’s been sitting here since 5am this morning; desperately hoping for even the smallest catch.  

The ice is thick and slippery, but the bottom of their shoes have a pattern designed to keep them from slipping. Sunggyu’s mother hand-made them last month for Myungsoo’s birthday.  She made two pairs and ruffled his hair saying, “That way I can always recognize both of my sons!”  Neither boy has gone a day without the boots since. 

Myungsoo was very thankful for the gift, he thinks Sunggyu is one of the best fishers and most honorable men in their village.  Sure, he nags him a lot, but all with good intention.  Sunggyu is the person that Myungsoo looks up to the most.  He thinks it’s unfair that Sunggyu is stuck doing the dirty work while Myungsoo and the other water benders get the easy life.

Well, it’s not the easy life to _him_ , but the others beg to differ.   

Myungsoo carefully glances around to be sure the other fishers are distracted and slowly twirls his finger with his concentration set below the water.  A thin stream of water slithers out of the hole Sunggyu had carved into the ice earlier.   A bright red tail with specks of orange frantically splashes in the stream and Sunggyu hastily grabs the fish and tosses it into his nearly empty bucket and shots Myungsoo a glare. 

Myungsoo is almost out of breath but tries to keep his panting at a minimum, but he’s got a broad smile on his face that he can’t suppress.  Sunggyu is not so pleased.

“You can’t do that,” he hisses and whacks him with his hand again.  The wool mitten is soaking and Myungsoo hisses at the sudden feeling of cold on the back of his neck.   He’s a water-bender, but he doesn’t really like being wet.  Sunggyu’s lowers his voice, “Myung, you know you can’t do that. It’s a miracle they even let you out here.  If you’re –“ 

“I know.”  Myungsoo lets out a deep sigh.  “If the fire nation soldiers catch me bending, I’ll be executed. I know that.” 

Sunggyu frowns and dips his line back beneath the water.  “No I don’t think you do.”  He shoots back, voice still in a whisper. “We can’t fight back Myung, we need to keep as many as you around as we can and just hope that one day, this war will end, and our tribe will still live.” 

“It’s not fair.”  Myungsoo grumbles, though he’s too tired to argue.  Myungsoo can barely bend, it’s against the law now.

Sunggyu used to tell him about a time once that it wasn’t. Myungsoo was too young to remember that time, but Sunggyu wasn’t. He told him there used to be a time when there were more than just a handful of people like him. Sunggyu told him stories about water shows that played during holidays, when they were young Sunggyu described every last detail about every routine he could remember.  He used to tell Myungsoo everything about the way the dancers bent their bodies and flowed with the music.  He used to tell him about the strips of light that moved with the water flow and illuminated the sky.  Sunggyu told him as much as he could remember, in fear of forgetting himself.

But Sunggyu was young then.  It’s hazy in his memories now; it’s almost like a fairytale to him too. 

As far as Myungsoo can remember, the fire nation has always been here.  Since he was born, there have always been fire nation ships at their docks, fire nation generals vetoing decisions of the tribe leader, fire nation soldiers taking the food their fishers worked hard for, fire nation ruining everything. 

They even stole their bending, and that makes Myungsoo angry.  When he was very young, he remember bending was still aloud a little.  But before he turned five, it was outlawed.  He was almost arrested when he was six years old because he accidentally cleaned up a glass of spilt water in front of a fire nation boy that was visiting and shared his house. Now, he almost never bends, and the lack of tires him out quickly.

 It may have tired him out, but he’s proud that he managed to do it.  And Sunggyu won’t ever tell him – but Myungsoo knows that Sunggyu’s proud too.  “Do you really think this war will end one day, Hyung?”

Sunggyu stops aimlessly swirling his line around in the water.  He watches the fish underneath the ice swim around and bump their head against the ice for a while before he answers.  “I hope so.”

“Me too.” 


	2. one

“Morning Hyung!”  Sunggyu blinks at the sleep in his eyes and smiles at Myungsoo’s chipper face.  It always amazes him how bright and smiley he is even in the early morning.  “Out on the ice again?”  Sunggyu can hear the bitterness in Myungsoo’s tone. 

He laughs and straightens the ear flaps on Myungsoo’s thick hat and adjusts the collar on his winter jacket.  Myungsoo’s so scrawny the get-up almost swallows him up but it can’t be helped.  Temperatures in the Southern Water Tribe drop in the negatives, and they need to stay warm to keep from getting sick.  More importantly, Myungsoo needs to stay warm to stay alive. 

If anything were to happen to Sunggyu, they may plead with the fire nation soldiers to have mercy.  If anything should happen to Myungsoo, the fire nation would laugh in their faces.   They wouldn’t dare help a water bender. 

Hence, the tribe preserves what little they have. The other water benders live leisure lives, staying at home most of the time.  Myungsoo is different, though, he always has been.  That makes Sunggyu smile, he likes that about Myungsoo.  “Nah, I have loading duty today,” Sunggyu jerks his head towards the barrels of fish piled on the docks.  Even while trudging through snow a good hundred feet away, the scent is strong.  “It won’t really be interesting,” 

Sunggyu says it out of courtesy in case Myungsoo wants to leave.  But they both know he won’t.  Myungsoo would never leave.  He does wrinkle his nose at the stench, though.  “Can I come?”  Would it be any other fisher, they would have turned Myungsoo down immediately because of who he is.  Sunggyu knows better than that though and nods his head.

Myungsoo cheerily waves to the other fishers that are slowly piling into the docks as well.  They all know Myungsoo very well, he’s well known for having too much curiosity for his own good.  The wooden platform creaks beneath their feet. Sunggyu automatically shuffles over towards the load while Myungsoo surveys the area to find a sturdy block of wood to sit on. 

“Morning Sunggyu, Myungsoo!”  Both heads shoot up at the raspy voice and sport bright smiles in  
response. 

“Morning captain!” Sunggyu calls and shuffles into a quick bow.  Myungsoo follows suit and offers a bright smile as a hello.  “Are you taking the ship back?” 

 Sunggyu and Myungsoo know captain Jungyeop very well.  He’s been a reoccurring captain since they were both very young.  Myungsoo recalls him returning with a bucket full of candy that burns his tongue and insides and makes his entire body sweat.  It’s not as exciting now as when he was a kid, but he looks forward to it anyway. 

“Yup, I’ll be staying home for a few months too,” Myungsoo dusts snow off a wooden pillar and sits down.  He hugs his knees to his chest and looks at the captain in awe.  “Gonna stick around with my family before I come back,”

“Really? You have a son around Myungsoo’s age, right?” Sunggyu huffs loudly and lifts a large crate of fish and starts walking towards the ship.  Myungsoo smiles at the memory of newbie fisher Sunggyu struggling with a small crate and waddling like a penguin.   Myungsoo really misses those days.  

Captain Jungyeop waits for Sunggyu to return before continuing and he has a small frown on his face. “I do…he’s joined the army now, though. I won’t be able to see him long, he was drafted to start next month.”  The captain swallows uncomfortably.  Myungsoo and Sunggyu toss each other uneasy looks.  They know what that means.  The captain’s son is the type of person to kill off people like them.

 Though the captain is generally nicer than other fire nation natives, it doesn’t mean he’s got a big heart of gold.  He’s for this war, they don’t talk about it, but Myungsoo knows that.  It’s a forbidden topic between the three of them, but Myungsoo knows from the hard looks he’s seen water nation generals give the captain.  He’s a fire nation native, after all.

But when it’s just them three that never comes up, not really.  It’s just Sunggyu hauling crates into the ship, and Myungsoo shivering with the intense heat the captain’s candy’s sends through his system. And the captain laughs at the funny faces Myungsoo makes.  Myungsoo made them when he was younger because it made Sunggyu laugh too, they used to compete when Sunggyu was too young to be a fisher.  The captain would judge whose face came out funnier. 

Times have changed though, Sunggyu grew up and joined the crew, and Myungsoo grew up too.  But the way he’s treated, he feels like he’d be better off if he stayed a kid. 

The captain tosses him a little red ball wrapped in paper, “Last one, I’ll be sure to bring extra next time so you can have them even when I’m not around,” Myungsoo smiles politely.  He won’t need them if the captain’s not around, he only likes them for the faces and the laughs.  If the captain wasn’t around, there wouldn’t be anyone to laugh at them with him. 

Myungsoo pops it in his mouth anyway and shivers.  The captain chuckles as Myungsoo scrunches up his face, “When are you leaving?” 

“Around dawn, it’ll be dark out still,” The captain smiles, “Planning on watching the ship leave?”  Myungsoo gives Sunggyu a look who shrugs.  He’ll have to get up to go to duty anyway, might as well get up an hour earlier to bid the captain goodbye and watch the ship leave. 

“Are you excited to be going home?”  Myungsoo clicks his tongue against the candy. 

“I am,” The captain has a nostalgic smile, “I’m going to be seeing my boy again, he’s fourteen now, and my wife too.”  The captain looks genuinely happy and that warms up Myungsoo’s heart.  “I will miss you two, though, I wish I could bring you both along,” 

Myungsoo smiles at that, and even Sunggyu who lifts another crate offers a chuckle.  “Tell me about your home,” Myungsoo says with a bright smile.  Myungsoo loves stories.  Sunggyu used to tell him some about the water nation, and the captain tells him some about the fire nation.  Myungsoo loves their stories the best because they both have one thing in common.  They’re always before the war. 

Sunggyu told him about the water dancer shows and the enthusiasm during fishing season.  Captain Jungyeop tells him about old city traditions in the heart of the fire nation capital.  Sunggyu told him the flow of the dancers, the soft movements.   The captain tells him about running children and fire running loose.  He tells him about all his favorite childhood snacks and taking his son to the fire carnival when he was young.  And of course, he goes in depth about the fire carnival, almost as much as Sunggyu did about the water shows.  Myungsoo thinks the three of them share the same thing in common, they’re scared to forget. 

They’re scared the war will make them forget.   

 

 

Sunggyu sleeps with the intention of waking up an hour earlier so he has enough time to get ready and to get Myungsoo.  But he doesn’t plan on waking up even earlier than that in the dead of a night to the sound of something rustling around outside. 

He wakes with a start and his heart nearly stops.  Sunggyu has always been a sensitive sleeper so when he looks around his hut – he can see the rest of his family snoring away in dreamland.  He’s hovering over his father’s sleeping figure for a moment but decides against waking him.   Sunggyu slips on his boots and his jacket and slowly pushes open the flap leading outside.

The white snow shines in the moonlight and shows a path of footprints starting from the base of his hut that Sunggyu doesn’t recognize.  They look fresh in the snow and that makes his heart hammer even harder, was it a fire nation soldier?  Sunggyu bites his lip and thinks for a minute, but he must be hanging around Myungsoo too much, because he decides to follow them. 

Sunggyu follows them outside of his small village, the footprints don’t go near where the fire nation soldiers stay, so now he’s more curious than anything.  But, Sunggyu loses his footing, and lets out a small shriek before tumbling down a hill of snow and nearly toppling into the frozen river.  

He doesn’t, because he’s saved.  “Be careful!” The boy hisses at him.  He has Sunggyu by his fuzzy hood and his dark brown eyes are filled with concern.   Sunggyu takes a moment to simply look at the boy, he’s tanner than the water nation natives, but he looks to shabbily dressed to be a part of the fire nation.  Anyone from the earth or air nation hasn’t visited them in years.  The boy smiles a wide, toothy grin, and Sunggyu thinks it makes him look kind of cute.  “Staring is rude, but that’s okay, I’ll let you off with a warning,” 

The boy let’s go of Sunggyu’s hood and pats the snow off his jacket with his hands.  “Who are you?”  Sunggyu splutters, “What’s your nation?”

The boy shrugs and finishes dusting off Sunggyu’s coat.  “My name’s Nam Woohyun.  I don’t have a nation,”  

Sunggyu watches Nam Woohyun whistle and look at his handiwork.  Sunggyu’s coat is clean of all snow and Woohyun’s got this large smile on his face.  “Aren’t you gonna tell me your name?”

“What do you _mean_ you don’t have a nation?”  Sunggyu scoffs, he doesn’t mean to be rude, and softens his tone when he notes the small glimmer of hurt that appears in Woohyun’s eyes despite the smile plastered on his face.  “I mean, what nation were you born into?  Where did you come from? What do you bend?”

“Does all that make a nation?”  Woohyun tilts his head and it reminds Sunggyu heavily of Myungsoo and his curiosity.  “But you still haven’t told me _your_ name!”  Woohyun reminds him.

“Kim Sunggyu, a water nation boy, but I don’t bend,” He almost whispers.  He has so many questions dancing on his tongue, but Sunggyu doesn’t think Woohyun’s going to answer any of them.  “You still haven’t answered my questions,” He shoots, a little miffed.

“They aren’t important,” Woohyun brushes it off.  “So you don’t bend because it’s against the law, right?” Woohyun shivers a little and Sunggyu notices he isn’t dressed for the weather at all.  At least, not as well as he should be.  He has old worn out shoes, that can’t do anything to keep snow from seeping in.  He doesn’t have gloves or a hat of any kind and his jacket looks as thin as a sheet of paper. 

“No, I can’t bend,” Sunggyu shrugs off his hat and adjusts it on the boy’s head, “Aren’t you cold?”

Woohyun shrugs and smiles, adjusting the hat a little himself. “Kinda, but I don’t have much.”

Sunggyu narrows his eyes, “Where do you live? I know everyone in the water nation that lives around here, I’ve never seen you around.” 

“I told you, I don’t have a nation.”  Woohyun frowns a little but then points to the wooden dock. “Just before it touches the water, there’s a large mountain of snow that acts like a barrier.  It’s frozen solid.  I live there.”  Woohyun giggles at Sunggyu’s reaction. 

He looks absolutely appalled at the thought, “You live under the _dock_?”  Woohyun nods and Sunggyu feels like bringing the poor boy home and cooking him up a big pot of soup.  He also feels like keeping him as far as humanely possible from Myungsoo.  He’d be a terrible influence.  “How old are you?”

Woohyun scrunches his face up as if he has to think for a moment, “Fifteen, I think.” 

“You think?”  Sunggyu repeats. 

“Yea, I lost count after ten.”  Woohyun shrugs his shoulders, “But I think I’ve had five birthdays since then, so it must be fifteen.”  He nods his head confidently, “I’m sure of it.”

Sunggyu can feel a headache growing but quickly shrugs it off.  “How long have you been living under the dock?” 

Woohyun shrugs his shoulders, “Not very long, I think for about a month or two. Ever since that ship came in,” He points to the large black ship that Sunggyu loaded with supplies today.  He remembers that it came in around this time last month. 

“So you’re from the fire nation?”  Sunggyu gives him a glare.  

However, Woohyun lets out an exasperated sigh.  “I _told_ you,” he says as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world, “I don’t have a nation, I just…hitched a ride.”  He giggles.

“Illegally,” Sunggyu points out.

“Illegally,” Woohyun agrees as if the word means nothing.  “I was getting bored of the scenery so I wanted to come check this place out, I heard it was going to be cold so I brought the warmest clothes I could.  Did I do good?”  Woohyun gives him a big gummy smile and Sunggyu almost groans. 

“So you hitched a ride on a fire nation ship, _illegally_ , because you got bored of the scenery?” Sunggyu clarifies, and he’s sure to add a condemning tone to his voice.  This boy is absolutely crazy, and Sunggyu tells him, “You’re whacko.”

“Well I’m sure you’d get bored to,” Woohyun huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.  “Wait a sec, how old are you?”

“Seventeen,” Sunggyu massages his temples. 

“Oh you’re my Hyung then!” Woohyun declares, Sunggyu can see the excitement rolling off of him and feels a little guilty.  He thinks that maybe Woohyun was caught in a war he shouldn’t be in.  But Sunggyu has no clue what to do with him. 

As if he can read the expression in his eyes, Woohyun laughs.  “You don’t have to worry about doing anything with me, Hyung. I’m fine by myself.”  Sunggyu gives him a weary look and Woohyun straightens up his chest.  “Honest, I’m a tough cookie.” 

“But just how long do you plan on staying under the docks like that? Doesn’t it get cold?”  Sunggyu has so many questions, and Woohyun doesn’t seem keen on giving him all the answers. 

“I have my ways to keep warm, the dock gets dry and makes nice firewood,” Woohyun giggles noting Sunggyu’s horrified expression.  Sunggyu suddenly realizes why the dock creaks so much these days.  Woohyun doesn’t have the decency to tell him he’s kidding, either. 

“But you’re up earlier than usual, you don’t get up until the sun goes up,” Woohyun points towards the sky and the shining moon. 

“You woke me up,” Sunggyu deadpans but feels guilty the second he sees Woohyun’s expression fall.  “Don’t worry, I was planning on getting up sooner than usual anyway, me and a friend are watching the ship leave the dock,” 

“You mean Myungsoo,” Sunggyu raises an eyebrow. 

“Just a name I caught,” Woohyun’s cheeks heat up as he explains and Sunggyu notes that Woohyun must be very observant. He also knew when Sunggyu woke up as well.  Woohyun clears his throat to quickly change the subject, “Can I…can I watch the ship leave with you?” 

Sunggyu notes the hopeful look in Woohyun’s eyes and he really doesn’t want to say no.  But he still isn’t sure what nation Woohyun’s from, and if he’s a fire nation boy this could be trouble.  But his chocolate brown eyes and pouty lips are hard to resist.  “Ok, but you have to hide under the dock and you can only come out once all the men are on the ship and it’s moving,” 

Woohyun’s ears perk up and his smile is blinding.  “Thank you!” 

Sunggyu glances up at the sky and notes the moon slowly beginning to dim and the sky lightening in color.  “I should go get Myungsoo,” he says and Woohyun bobs his head in agreement.  Sunggyu lets out a deep sigh and watches Woohyun quickly rush beneath the docks.  He thinks about what he’s going to do with him _after_ they watch the ship leave.  But it makes his head pound and he decides he doesn’t really want to think about that anymore. 

 

 

 

“What do you mean you met a boy?”  Myungsoo’s eyes are wide and curious and Sunggyu hates when he gets this way.  Usually it means they get into trouble.  “He said he lived under the dock?  How’s that possible?”

And for the nth time that morning, Sunggyu lets out a deep sigh and shoves Myungsoo away.  “I already told you, I don’t know! He won’t even tell me what nation he’s from!”  Myungsoo sticks out his tongue and Sunggyu snarls at him.  But they both break out into laughter and quickly go up to the dock to find Captain Jungyeop and crew already finishing up last minute errands. 

“Ah, boys!”  The captain smiles warmly and waves them over.  “I was afraid you wouldn’t make it,”

They both shoot him a wide smile, “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Myungsoo assures him.  The captain laughs and pulls the two of them in for a warm embrace.  He can’t help but ruffle their hair and relish the whines he’s grown to love.  The captain would love to give them one of those speeches like a father to a son.  Tell them to be good, be careful, stay safe but he knows he can’t do that.  It’s not his place.  As much as he’d love for things to change, he is a fire nation sailor.  Sunggyu and Myungsoo are water nation boys.   And to make matters even worse, Myungsoo is a water bender. 

The captain smiles softly and ruffles Myungsoo’s hair once again while Sunggyu cackles.  “Boys,” he starts – but he doesn’t know how to finish.  They have wide eyes, youth glowing in them and the guilt eats at his stomach.  The captain sighs and drops his voice to a whisper, “I know that you and I aren’t on the same side of this war.”  He notes the drop in expression.  “But I do want you to know that I love two a lot,”

Sunggyu and Myungsoo exchange nervous looks and the captain brushes it off.  “No one will hear, this is between us three, okay?  One day, I want to see you bend.”  The captain gently knocks his fist against Myungsoo’s forehead and the boy goes wide-eyed.  “I’m serious Myungsoo.  I haven’t seen a water bender in ages.  I want the next time I see it to be you.” 

“I-I don’t think that will be very soon,” Myungsoo’s voice is very small and the captain feels guilty for frightening the boy.   He also notes that Sunggyu’s grip on Myungsoo’s arm is tightened, they’re both afraid.  Afraid of something they shouldn’t be afraid of. 

The captain sighs, “I don’t think so either.  But I just want you boys to know, we aren’t on the same side of this war.  But that doesn’t mean I agree with all of my side. It doesn’t mean you have to agree with all of your side either.”  He ruffles their hair and pulls them in for a hug.  “Be careful you two, eh?” 

They nod and Sunggyu helps the captain load the last of his luggage into his room.   He won’t be able to see them, as he has to sail the ship, but Sunggyu and Myungsoo mutually agree to wave like idiots until it’s long past visible anyway.

As soon as the ship lets out a long horn signaling its departure, Woohyun scurries out from beneath the docks and rushes up to Sunggyu with a large grin.   “This is the boy you were talking about!” Myungsoo cries. 

Sunggyu sighs, so much for keeping them apart.  “Hi! I’m Woohyun!”  Woohyun vigorously shakes Myungsoo’s hand and Sunggyu thinks his smile must be brighter than the sun rising in the distance. 

Woohyun and Myungsoo hit it off well, Sunggyu expected that.  They’re both young and bright, and both can bend when it’s not allowed anymore.  Woohyun still hasn’t told Sunggyu what nation he’s from, but Sunggyu thinks he’s ruled out the fire nation for sure. 

He doesn’t think the other nations are allowed to bend either.  They haven’t received news in ages, nothing that hasn’t been filtered.  But Sunggyu thinks, logically, that if they have it this bad, the other parts of the world can’t be much better.  Sunggyu smiles at the sight of the both of them laughing together, it’s almost as if Myungsoo’s found a friend in Woohyun. 

Now if only he could figure out what to do _with_ Woohyun.  

But that’s pushed from his mind again, when Woohyun points something out in the distance. “Hey, is the ship supposed to light up like that?” 

Myungsoo and Sunggyu look up and see a small little light glowing on the ship.  “Hey Hyung do you think the captain’s trying to tell us goodbye?”  Myungsoo smiles and starts jumping up and down and calling out to the sky.  “Hey! We’ll see you in a few months!”  Woohyun laughs at him.

Sunggyu shrugs and watches the light for a while, “I don’t know, he’s never done that before.”  But Sunggyu thinks the captain was being oddly sentimental in his exchange earlier anyway.  Maybe he really was bidding the boys goodbye.

But slowly, the light starts to grow, and the more it grows Sunggyu realizes it isn’t light at all.  It’s fire.  The ship is on fire.   Sunggyu finds the same realization etched onto Myungsoo’s face.  Sunggyu sees his wide eyes and fear.  He opens his mouth to say something, but there’s nothing for him to say.  What can he say?  

Myungsoo speaks for him, “We have to do something.”  He whimpers and turns to Sunggyu and grabs his jacket.  Sunggyu sees tears beginning to form in his eyes. “Hyung we have to do something!” 

Sunggyu stands frozen unable to move.  He can’t do _anything_. He’s not a bender, not like it would matter if he was, and he isn’t sure.  All Sunggyu can do is watch the fire grow faster and faster thick orange flames licking the side of boat.  “Hyung we have to do _something_!” Myungsoo shrieks. 

Sunggyu holds his gaze for a moment and finally asks, “What can we do?” 

And then Myungsoo starts to run. 

“Myungsoo stop!”  Sunggyu panics and follows him quickly and he can hear Woohyun running behind him too.   Myungsoo is fueled by fear and Sunggyu just can’t catch up to him fast enough.  He knows what Myungsoo’s planning to do and he desperately hopes he’s wrong.  But Sunggyu knows Myungsoo, so he knows he’s right.

Sunggyu manages to catch up to his friend and wrestle him to the ground.  They roll down a hill of snow and they’re at least a mile from the docks. “Myungsoo you _can’t_!” 

Myungsoo shoves him, _hard._ Sunggyu lands first face in the snow and lets out a grunt, but before Myungsoo can go any further Woohyun has him pinned against the snow.  His expression isn’t frantic like Sunggyu’s and it isn’t fearful like Myungsoo’s.  Woohyun is surprisingly very calm.  “Think this through, do you really want to do this?”

“I do.” Myungsoo whimpers, and he lets the tears out. “I have to.  I will.” 

Woohyun looks at the determination in his eyes and sighs. “Ok then.”  He stands.  Myungsoo turns towards the flaming ship, nearly ablaze and puts all his concentration on the water.  He focuses like he’s never focused before and Sunggyu sees Myungsoo’s normal dark brown pupils shine a bright blue.  “Myungsoo!” He jumps forward to stop him but Woohyun holds him back. 

Myungsoo’s small body is trembling and he can feel his heart hammering in his chest.  But he has to do this.  He promised that he would.   And using that single thought as a booster, Myungsoo puts as much power into this as he possibly can.  Thankfully, it’s enough.  And when it’s finished, Myungsoo blacks out.

Sunggyu watches in horror when a large portion of the river is bundled into a giant wave.  A wave who’s commander is Myungsoo.  The sun has barely risen and the water looks pitch black.  Sunggyu watches the wave fall onto the boat and swallow the glowing orange lights. 

Sunggyu pushes Woohyun off and rushes forward to catch Myungsoo as he faints.  With tears in his eyes, he turns to yell at Woohyun but he hears the sound yelling and his heart catches in his throat. 

They saw it.  They saw Myungsoo.  The fire nation saw it. 

“Come on!”  Woohyun is pulling him to his feet and yanking him away.  Sunggyu hears screaming and shouting and he’s sure they’ll find them through their footprints in the snow.  But with Myungsoo on his back, he doesn’t care much anymore. 

He follows Woohyun into the night and leaves behind everything he called home. 

He just hopes when he returns, it’ll be a home he truly wants to return to.  


	3. two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i honestly cannot stop with this au. sorry not sorry.

“Yo.  Wake up.”  Sungjong snorts and buries his head deeper into the pillow.  He feels his eyes drifting off again and hums in content.  “Yo, wake up!”  The voice gets louder, but Sungjong thinks if he pretends long enough it’ll just leave. 

But of course, it’s not in Dongwoo’s nature to “just leave.”  Which is quite unfortunate for Sungjong. 

Sungjong lets out a strangled cry when he feels his friend’s weight on his back.  With a huff he kicks him clean off and grumbles.  Dongwoo just laughs.  “Can’t you let me sleep in even a little bit?”  Sungjong whips a pillow at his face, but Dongwoo dodges with ease.  He’s used to this by now. 

“I thought you’d like to take a trip to the market with me?”  Dongwoo brushes the imaginary dirt off his soot black pants and watches Sungjong groggily rub his eyes.  “Isn’t your dad coming home soon?  You should get him a welcome back present.” 

Sungjong sets his feet on the warm, wooden floor and stretches his arms out.  He yawns like a lion and his red, silk pajamas ride up a little bit to expose his belly button.  Dongwoo, of course, has to poke it.  Sungjong lets out a yelp of surprise and tumbles back onto his covers.  “Don’t do that you rat!”  He snips. 

Dongwoo ignores him, “You coming or not?  My mom made honey waffles today.”  That makes Sungjong’s ears perk up and he’s already pushing past Dongwoo towards the bathroom with a bright smile.  He’s fourteen years old and in that dumb teenage phase where everybody’s moody, but honey waffles makes everybody happy. 

Sungjong isn’t a rich fire nation noble like he’d wish to be, but he gets by okay.  His father’s a sailor and it gets them a decent amount of money.  Sungjong is happy with the life he lives, but he feels like he should do more.  He feels like he should be worth more, so he’s overjoyed when he got the drafting notice last week.  

His mother is nervous, all mothers are.  But Dongwoo’s parents are thankful that they got drafted together, though Sungjong is sure Dongwoo’s father has a hand in that.  He’s a military general, after all.  After washing his face and freshening up, Sungjong sprints down the stairs and skips the last two.  He slides next to Dongwoo and his mouth is already watering.

Sungjong has lived with Dongwoo for as long as he can remember.  The general donated his house to create extra barracks for the soldier to live in, and of course Sungjong’s father couldn’t let his best friend live on the streets.  

The two grew up more like brothers than friends, and for that Sungjong is thankful.  But he has to admit Dongwoo is a little stupid at times, he’s too kind for his own good, Sungjong thinks.  Often times he gets involved with the wrong crowd, he doesn’t fit in like Sungjong does.  So Dongwoo has been bullied since they were young.

And Sungjong just doesn’t see the point in helping him.  It’s not what they’re taught to do.  Dongwoo knows how to fix this, but he refuses.  To Sungjong, that’s plain stupid.   They don’t talk about it at home.  Dongwoo told him not to tell so Sungjong agreed. Dongwoo never tries to push things on Sungjong, that’s not how he is.  It’s not how the rest of the fire nation is.  Dongwoo simply believes in what he believes in and that’s that.  He won’t change his mind, and he won’t try to change Sungjong’s. 

Sungjong feels his mouth watering when a fresh plate of honey waffles is placed in front of him.  He barely manages to gush out his thanks before stuffing half his breakfast down his throat.  He hears his mother sigh and apologize to Dongwoo’s mother about his behavior.  But Sungjong doesn’t really care.  “Yah, Lee Sungjong, can’t you be even a little respectable?”  His mother taps her foot on the grained wood and Sungjong just offers a smile that shows off his teeth glazed with syrup.

“Nope, not ever.”  He grins his toothy grin and his mother releases a deep sigh.  He can hear Dongwoo’s mother click her tongue behind him and mumble something about manners.  But they should be used to this by now, Sungjong’s in the fire nation.  What fire nation teenager gives a shit about manners?

Sungjong’s mother grudgingly steps back into the kitchen and Sungjong hears the faint sound of her rustling through the drawers.  He internally grins, rustling means money, and money means – “I want you to go to the market with Dongwoo today to pick up some groceries for me,”  Sungjong looks at her expectantly and his mother drops in a few extra coins, “Spend the leftovers how you wish.”

Dongwoo and his mom giggle at the grin that Sungjong can’t suppress and even his mother cracks a smile.  “Little brat is only here for the money,” she affectionately runs her fingers through his hair anyway.  It’s not really fire nation protocol to show affection, but Sungjong sees it in his mom anyway. 

“Aw, I love you sometimes too.”  He answers. His mother pretends to smack him and Sungjong laughs. 

He watches his mother put a few extra coins into the pouch, “You’re father is coming home soon, too.  See if you can find anything interesting for him,” Sungjong pops the last of his waffles in his mouth and agrees. 

Sungjong doesn’t know much about what his father does.  He’s never been told.  All he knows is that he comes home with lots of fish from god knows where and he always takes a large box of that stupid candy no one even likes.  Sungjong is pretty sure it gives his father heartburn too, so he wonders if they use it as a punishment wherever he travels. 

But that’s all a thought for another day.  His dad is going to be home soon, and that’s all that matters.  Sungjong laces up his leather boots and adjusts the sleeveless soot black top on his shoulders.  Despite the heat, the fire nation opts for wearing dark clothing.  Sungjong never really questioned it.  

He waves at his mother and Dongwoo’s before following him out the front door, twirling the coin purse and whistling along the way.  Dongwoo merrily waves to the old women handling the stalls and they offer him smiles in return.  Sungjong doesn’t even bother to spare them a glance, they’re below him.  He doesn’t need to care about them.  “It wouldn’t kill you to say hello once in a while,” Dongwoo punches him lightly.

Sungjong rolls his eyes, “To who? The old lady that sells rotten apples?” 

Dongwoo frowns, “Her name is Sunhee and the apples are not rotten,” The seriousness in Dongwoo’s voice makes Sungjong uncomfortable and he fidgets.  Sungjong almost expects Dongwoo to vouch for the women a little more, to tell him that he shouldn’t talk about her like that. But of course he doesn’t. 

Dongwoo may be kinder than a fire nation boy should be, but that doesn’t mean the nation hasn’t left its imprint on him at all.  Dongwoo may be kind, but he’s no social activist.  He doesn’t give a shit what Sungjong thinks about the lady, he only cares about what he thinks.  “Yea, yea.” Sungjong snorts, “What nation is she from?” 

Sungjong sees Dongwoo’s frown deepen.  He’s doing it to mock him.  Dongwoo doesn’t like the kidnapping of people from the other nations.   He thinks it’s wrong. “She’s from the Northern Water Tribe,” he responds coldly, “She’s an old bender, and she has a family back home that she wants to go back to.” 

Sungjong snorts, “Do you actually feel sorry for her, Dongwoo?” 

The sixteen year old boy only gives Sungjong a sad smile, “Yea, I do, actually.  I just wish that she got to see her family like we get to see ours.”  It’s borderline condescending, but Sungjong knows Dongwoo doesn’t mean it that way.  “I don’t get the purpose behind this war.”

Sungjong stops dead in his tracks.  He glances around to be sure no one heard and hisses under his breath, “Have you gone _mad_? What if someone heard that?”  Sungjong’s seething – sometimes Dongwoo’s stupidity is a little too much for him.  Sure, letting Dongwoo get bullied is one thing, but letting him get killed is another.  

“I don’t care.” Dongwoo says firmly.  “It’s true.”

“We need this war,” Sungjong whispers, “Because….”  Sungjong trails off.  “Listen, I’m sure there’s something, but we’re kids so they won’t tell us.  But when we’re older they will, like some big secret, I’m sure of it.”

“I think if we’re old enough to be drafted,” Dongwoo starts and looks around just in case someone is eavesdropping, “We should be old enough to know what we’re fighting _for_ ,”

Sungjong knows the answer to that.  They all know the answer to that, but it’s too ugly for Dongwoo.  Maybe if Sungjong thought about it long and hard, it would be too ugly for him too.  So he doesn’t think about it, he doesn’t _like_ to think about it.  He’s afraid that he’ll realize what’s happening isn’t right at all.  That maybe the trouble caused by his nation for the past ten years is everything _but_ right. 

That’s too much for Sungjong’s fourteen year old brain to worry about.  So he just thinks about other things, about how well of a fire bender he’ll become by joining the army.  He thinks about how proud his father will be when he hears about his first kill.  He thinks of victorious war stories and he imagines himself in those shoes.  If he does it any other way, he’s afraid of where his thoughts will take him. 

Sungjong opts for changing the subject, he knows Dongwoo will drop it if he does.  Dongwoo always drops a topic when Sungjong wants to.  “Say aren’t you excited to be drafted?” He talks louder this time and stops by a stall with a haggard old women in green clothing.  He inspects her goods with his nose turned up and snickers while walking away.   Earth nation slaves are the most rowdy and deserve to be shown their place. 

“Me?”  Dongwoo chomps on a rotten looking carrot.  He wrinkles his nose but he bought it from the woman despite the brown coloring anyway.  Sungjong doesn’t by from those people, they’re servants of nobles trying to earn a little side money.  He doesn’t dare give money to that, he only buys from his own people.   “Not really,” he scoffs as if it’s a stupid question, “We’ll lose all our freedom.”

Sungjong stops in front of a stall run by a young fire nation girl and immediately starts filling his basket with fruits and vegetables.  “But we’ll be honorable men when we come back.” Sungjong declares proudly and Dongwoo snorts.   Sungjong pays the girl and tosses in a coin extra because she’s pretty.  The girl bows gratefully and Sungjong gives her a sly smile. 

Dongwoo yanks him away by the ear while he whines in protest.  “First off, ew.”  He jerks his head in the direction of the girl.  “Second off, is killing people really your idea of honorable?” 

Sungjong opens his mouth to retaliate but sees a scrawny air nation girl huddled beneath a booth.   She looks sickly thin and her hair seems on the verge of falling out.  But Sungjong’s eyes are set on the goods layered on her table.  He’s never bought from anyone who’s not from the fire nation before. 

Sungjong walks up to the booth anyway.  “If they deserve to die,” Sungjong speaks loudly and places a single silver coin, face down, in front of the sickly girl.  “I think it’s very honorable to kill people,” Sungjong lifts a bucket filled with the fiery candy that his father likes a lot.  

It’s a rather large bucket, and it’s worth way more than the little coin he left.

The girl doesn’t complain though, she wouldn’t dare. 

No one would complain to a fire nation soldier, and that’s the title that Sungjong’s going to accept.  “I think my father will like this gift,” He tells Dongwoo. 

The older boy has a solemn expression, but he hums in agreement with a small smile.  Dongwoo always smiles when it comes to these stupid candies.  It makes Sungjong wonder if Dongwoo actually knows what his father does with them and just won’t tell him. 

 

Later that day, Sungjong joins Dongwoo to watch one of the fire shows.  They aren’t the same as when he was young.  The performers don’t have the same light in their eyes.  Dongwoo seems to enjoy them though, and because he has nothing better to do, Sungjong decides to tag along. 

The stadium isn’t very big, it’s more of a small area for little performances.  Dongwoo likes these the best, the performers aren’t as grand as the bigger boys that perform in the heart of fire nation capital.  But Dongwoo prefers these, he tells Sungjong all the time.  He tells him he can feel the performers’ heart this way, and he doesn’t get that in a large stadium.  

Sungjong remembers coming to these when he was young, being held up on his father’s shoulders and Dongwoo right next to him.  Sungjong remembers screaming and praying that one of the torches that are tossed to the audience will fly to him.  He remembers sleeping at night with hopes of catching one of those torches someday.  He never did, but it was fun to pretend. 

“You look like you’re thinking about something,” Dongwoo tells him, “But you don’t think.”  Sungjong snarls and elbows him in the stomach.  He huffs triumphantly when Dongwoo coughs in pain and settles himself to watch the show. 

It starts off like any other fire show.  The performers have white and black make-up painted on their faces and start with streams of fire leaving their mouths.  The crowd begins to cheer and everything is in its place. 

 

But one of the performers begins to cough, and needs to be escorted off the stage.  Sungjong scoffs, he can’t even remember fire coming out of his mouth like the other performers; he was probably faking. A small murmur of worry spreads through the crowd, but the other performers are quick to cover up with another dazzling blast of light.  Sungjong notices Dongwoo trying to look around the fire, obviously with concern for the injured performer, and kicks him in the shin. “Quit worrying you loser.”

Dongwoo grimaces and rubs his ankle.  He turns away from Sungjong in a huff and still tries to look around the dancing waves of fire.  But Sungjong finds the injured performer first.  

Sungjong’s breath catches in his throat and he reacts almost immediately, before anyone else in the audience gets the chance to.  He grabs Dongwoo’s elbow and yanks him beneath the seats. He uses the leather cushion to shield their heads when a large wave of icy water floods the stadium. 

Sungjong jumps to his feet and looks up to see the injured performer with white paint dripping off of his chin.  His lips are pulled into a vengeful smile and Sungjong sees the bright blue glow in his pupils and anger fills his system.  _Water bender_.  

Sungjong forms a whip of fire and slashes at the water bender with a grunt, but he’s too slick and too fast.  Before Sungjong’s attack even evaporates, a fresh whip of water is stinging the side of his face and he topples over Dongwoo who is still shell-shocked and hidden. 

Sungjong tries to attack again, but the water bender is quick and is already halfway across the stadium.  Sungjong is up on his feet and he feels Dongwoo’s grip on his ankle, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”  He shouts, but Sungjong shoves him off and runs after the water bender anyway. 

“Stop!”  Sungjong screams at the top of his lungs and runs as if his life depends on it.  He forms another whip of fire and tries to hit the water bender with the tip, but he’s too far and too fast.   Sungjong tries to speed up, but just when he thinks he’s close enough to a point where his fire whip will reach, a burst of water hits his whole body and he slips.  

Sungjong is soaking from head to toe, but he coughs out the water and frantically moves the hair out of his face.  Before he can stand up, a hand fisted into his collar yanks him to his feet. “It’s a fire rat.”  Sungjong recognizes the hat and he tries very hard not to shudder.  He’s freezing though, and his clothes are sticking to his body and the cold of the night seeps through his skin and he shivers involuntary. 

The Northern Water Tribe general spits in his face and Sungjong’s blood boils.  He screams and thrashes and tries to pry the general off his collar but he’s smacked across the face, hard.   The general pushes Sungjong to the ground and Sungjong tastes iron in his mouth.  He spits out blood and looks up with anger in his eyes. “You’ll get arrested for this.”  He snarls, “The fire nation generals will get you for this,”

The water bender laughs and slices the side of his face with a sharp stream of water.  Blood drips down Sungjong’s cheek and a small pool of pink is forming at his feet.  He struggles to stand and create another strip of fire.  Just before he can stand, cuffs of water wrap around his wrists and ankles and Sungjong is literally planted on the cobblestone floor. 

The water bender squats in front him, he gets so close to Sungjong’s face that he can feel his breath on his nose.  “You killed my people.”  He snarls, “I will kill yours.”  

Sungjong thrashes against the chains but the water is sharp and cuts into his flesh the more he fights.  He tries to create fire with his eyes, but he’s not skilled enough for that.  Sungjong’s breathing is thrown off and he can’t even light a spark.  

The water bender laughs at his struggles and kicks Sungjong in the stomach with his foot. “Oh, why don’t you play with this, you little rat?” The general whacks Sungjong across the head with one of the torches he desperately wanted to catch when he was a little boy.  The wood is soaking and the fire is long burnt out but it still hurts when the general stabs him in the stomach. It’s not enough to pierce, but the force itself is more than enough to make Sungjong whimper.  Sungjong grunts in pain and more blood rises in his throat.  The water bender has a sneer on his face as he leaves Sungjong, still tied to the ground with sharp water cuffs. 

Sungjong struggles and screams at the top of his lungs, desperate for someone to free him.  “Dongwoo!”  He starts shouting, blood getting in his mouth makes it difficult.  “Dongwoo!”  He gets desperate and tears start to prick at the corner of his eyes, “Jang Dongwoo!”  He shouts as loud as he possibly can. 

“Sungjong!” It’s not Dongwoo that comes to his rescue, but Dongwoo’s mother.  Sungjong doesn’t care though and is thankful when she uses fire to slice through the cuffs and pulls him to his feet.  He’s still soaking wet and he feels very faint and nearly topples over again if she doesn’t catch him quickly. 

“What’s happening?”  Sungjong notices that Mrs. Jang is frantic and breathing heavily.  It’s a miracle she managed to create any amount of fire that way.  “What’s going on?  Where’s Dongwoo?  Why are you out here?”  Sungjong’s voice rises an octave and fear is starting to take over his body.  Sungjong has never felt the need to cry so heavy in his throat.

“Dongwoo is safe, that’s all that’s important.”  Mrs. Jang is dragging him by the arm, careful to avoid his cut wrists, “We need to get to safety too.  The Northern Water Tribe attacked,” her voice is thick with fear, Sungjong can hear it.  “We’re getting as many to safety as we can.” 

Sungjong looks around him and the city is pitch black.  Sungjong sees visible strips of fire and watches them wash away and hears screams of soldiers.  He also hears shouts of joy, shouts of happiness and it makes him sick to his stomach.  A strip of fire lights nearly in front of them and Sungjong sees the crooked, wicked smile of Sunhee, the apple vendor.   He feels like her eyes are glaring into his soul and Sungjong feels like puking.  The sound of her laughter mingled with the sound of a dying fire nation soldier feels like it’s right next to his ear.  Sungjong doesn’t think he’ll ever forget that sound.

Sungjong feels tired and weak.  He wants to break down and he wants to be warm in bed, “Where’s my mom?”  Sungjong croaks out.  He wants to feel his mother’s warm embrace and he wants to see her face.  He wants to go to sleep tonight in her arms because he’s scared.  Sungjong hasn’t been scared for a while, but tonight, he’s terrified.  His heart pounds when Mrs. Jang hesitates to answer him and he stops abruptly.  “W-Where’s my mom?”  Sungjong’s throat constricts. 

“We need to move, Sungjong.”  She yanks on his arm and it doesn’t take much for her to get him moving again.  He’s too weak to protest. 

“Where’s my mom?”  Sungjong feels tears prickling in his eyes again and he wants to scream.  “Where’s my mom?” Sungjong screams and the lump in his throat is burning.  He tries to push free of Mrs. Jang’s grip but she smacks him.

“I’m sorry, Sungjong.  She’s missing.  Not necessarily dead, but this isn’t the time.”  Her voice is cold.  Her voice is like a fire nation native.  And Sungjong desperately wants his mother and her unusual way of affection. 

The more they move, the more screams he hears, the more the sadness washes away.  Sungjong feels hollow instead.  He feels Mrs. Jang’s grip on his elbow but he feels like he doesn’t.  Sungjong feels something and he can’t even put a name to it.  He feels a big mix of empty and upset and fear and anger and everything.  The first thing that bubbles out is anger. 

“I’ll kill them.”  He hisses, “Every last water bender, I’ll kill them all.” 

_“I’ll make sure the fire nation wins this war.”_


	4. three

The very first thought that crosses Howon’s mind the second he steps foot in the air nation is: “Dad, I feel sick.”  His father chuckles and ruffles his hair, but Howon truly does feel sick.   Maybe it’s air sickness (only he would get _air_ sickness visiting the _air_ nation) because all the other earth benders seem absolutely fine.  Howon would argue more, but he knows his dad is under a lot of pressure.  He knows this is strictly business purposes for his father.  It may be a simple fun trip for Howon, but it’s not like that for everyone.

Granted, Howon’s dream vacation was not the western air temple (it was nowhere near the sky, actually, he really wanted to visit the Southern Water tribe, but the look on his father’s face hardened at that). But he was a tough cookie that could learn to cope.

But coping didn’t seem on the top of his to do list after he found the majority of his first day locked in the bathroom turning out his stomach.  “Howon, are you alright in there?”  His father gently knocked on the door and Howon wanted to die of embarrassment.

“I’m alright,” He calls out – just before he loses the slice of buttered toast he had for breakfast, and the peach that went with it.  “Just peachy,” He grumbles out.

He doesn’t think his father buys it.  But he has a meeting in ten and really can’t miss this.  Howon understands, he truly does.  His father is a busy man that can’t spend all day doting on his son that isn’t even supposed to be here.  “Alright, maybe you should take a walk around for a while, get some fresh air in you.” 

Howon holds back comment about the fresh air taking out every ounce of food that _goes_ in him. “I’ll try,” he answers instead, albeit rather weakly. 

 And after sitting in the bathroom for a total of ten minutes, Howon really does try.  He sighs, deciding that the he doesn’t want to spend his entire vacation locked in a bathroom.  He might as well _try_ to make the most of it. 

So he fixes up his hair in the mirror, trying to look semi-decent and not like he just puked before taking a deep breath and stepping into the hallway.   Howon already knew the air nation has very expressive people.  They’re either too happy, too angry, too sad, too _something_.  He’s heard about it from his friends.  But now he gets to experience it live. 

It gives him a headache – all the excited waves he gets.  Howon isn’t used to all this chipper attitude.  The earth nation is a calm place, no one’s overly excited; no one’s overly anything.  Howon’s used to that, he’s used to no one being expressive.  A lot of people say that’s how he acquired his sharp tongue. 

The air nation is different though, much different.  Howon tries very hard to hold his tongue in place because one wrong word and he’ll either have the happiest person on the planet in tears, or have his head torn off by some angered demon.  He hates this feeling of walking on eggshells, but vacation is vacation. 

Though truth be told, Howon is here for information.  His father won’t tell him anything, no one will tell him anything.  No one will tell anyone anything.  Howon knows most of the earth nation is living in the dark about the seriousness of this war and he is hell-bent on uncovering the grand mystery himself.  He just doesn’t know who to talk to in order to get answers.  So, for a while, he decides he should relax.

Howon ends up taking a staircase to what he thinks is as close to the top of this temple he’ll ever get.   Howon smiles brightly taking in a gulp of fresh air and his stomach is already feeling much better.  Maybe his father was right, after all.   The view is fantastic and Howon feels as if he reaches his hand out a little farther, he might be able to touch the clouds.  

Before he gets the chance to try though, he’s on the ground. 

Howon yelps when he feels someone pounce on him.  Long fingers are coiled into his collar and someone is putting all their weight on his stomach.  Howon coughs and tries to push the boy off but he has no intention of moving, “Who the hell are you?”  The boy snarls.

“Get off!” He successfully shoves the boy off so he lands on his ass a few feet away.  The boy looks genuinely surprised at his strength, “I’m just visiting,” Howon adds with a snarl.  “Thanks for the warm welcoming.”

The air nation boy scoffs and stands to his full height (Hoya grudgingly notices he is taller than him – but scrawnier too).  “Yea visiting _my_ private training area, who sent you?” 

“Um, no one?”  Howon stands too and dusts the dirt off his pants.  “I just came to get some fresh air and found this place.”

The boy scoffs again and Howon decides he really dislikes him.  “Well fine, I guess I’ll believe you this once.”  Howon suppresses the urge to roll his eyes, “And as a bonus, I’ll even let you stick around and enjoy the show,” He tosses him a huge gummy smile, and if it wasn’t so egotistical, Howon would almost call it cute. 

Howon thinks he’s better off leaving while he has the chance.  But the curiosity gets to him so he asks anyway, “What show?”

The boy’s eyes widen as if Howon was an alien.  “You mean you don’t know _me_?”  His eyes are practically bulging out of his head in shock.  “I’m famous everywhere, Lee Sungyeol! Lee Sungyeol the air bending protégé?” 

Howon blinks. “Oh you’re the one kid whose face is painted on lotion bottles.”

Sungyeol almost falls as if he’s been shot in the chest.  “I guess that’s a start.”  He grumbles.  “Well, if you _must_ be informed,” Howon doesn’t think he has a choice, “I am on the lotion bottles for a reason.  And that’s because I am one of the youngest, most skilled air benders of the century!”  He puts on his large, toothy grin again and Howon rolls his eyes.

“That’s great.” He snorts.

Sungyeol scoffs at his tone.  “Sit down and be amazed,”

Sungyeol doesn’t give Howon the chance to sit down though; he does it himself. Howon lets out a mini-scream when a gust of air lifts him from the bottom of his feet and gently places him on a rock not too far off.  Sungyeol’s got this annoying smirk on his face and snickers, “Nice scream, earth bender.”  Howon growls and opens his mouth to retaliate, but Sungyeol’s already in the zone.

His eyes turn a light gray and a little burst of air is twirling around in the air.  It’s very small but Howon can tell from the mischievous look on his face that Sungyeol has something planned.    The small little air starts to dance around Howon, sliding between his legs and tickling behind his ears.  He can’t help but laugh – until it goes up his nose, then he snorts so hard his eyes water. 

He also decides he _really_ dislikes Sungyeol.

While Howon is coughing and snorting, Sungyeol decides to _really_ show him what he can do.  When Howon looks up again, he follows Sungyeol’s gaze off into the distance where he can see a group of clouds parting to make room for the sun.   Howon is dazed, “You can bend that _far_?”  

Sungyeol snickers. 

Another little spurt of wind starts dancing around the two of them – Howon quickly covers his nose and earns a giggle out of Sungyeol.   But this time the small ball of air flies off to where Howon assumes the clouds used to be.  It’s too small for him to see now, but that changes quickly.

The air is suddenly back and it’s growing bigger and bigger.  Howon’s breath catches in his throat when a far, far off into the distance, a tornado of dust and air is swirling.   Howon’s never seen an air tornado – he heard it’s a very difficult and advanced bending technique. 

But never, never did he think it could get so _big_.   

And with a snap of his fingers, it vanishes.  Disassociating the tornado is as hard as building it – Howon knows that, he learned about it.   But seeing it live is another thing.  He watches all the little dust particles float to the ground and Sungyeol crosses his arms over his chest, proudly.  “I told you, didn’t I? I’m amazing.”

Howon opens his mouth to say he’d be even _more_ amazing if he glued his mouth shut, but his stomach starts doing flip flops and Howon shivers.  _Not again_.  Sungyeol starts blabbering about how Howon is “too stunned for words” and that he’d “gladly show him some more” but Howon is too busy holding his stomach to care.  And then the worst thing of all (or maybe the best) happens.

Howon throws up on Sungyeol’s shoes.

And then he runs. 

Howon bolts down the stairs as fast as possible – but he still hears the scream Sungyeol lets out.  He doesn’t even dare look back. 

 

 

To say he’s angry is an understatement.  Lee Sungyeol is _more_ than angry, he’s _fuming_.  He’s red in the face and stomps down the stairs angrily.  But of course, he never got the name of that nasty earth bender and is having more trouble finding him than he’d thought.   That and, unknown to Sungyeol, Howon locked himself in his room and refuses to come out.

He drops his favorite pair of shoes (they were a gift last Valentine’s day) off at home and demands his workers have them clean by the afternoon.  In the meantime, he decides to find that earth bender and punish him.  Well, if he could find him.

Sungyeol doesn’t take shit from anyone, he’s learned not to very young.  Lots of people have hung off of him trying to earn a name for themselves, only to spit lies behind his back.  Sungyeol knows that if you don’t put someone in their place yourself, they’ll never learn it. 

But after a while, Sungyeol gets tired of this dumb game of hide and seek and opts for looking for the earth bender tomorrow.  The sky is already dark and Sungyeol decides he’s better off just going home, but he’s stopped, “Oh, Sungyeol!” 

Sungyeol raises an eyebrow, “What do you want?”

“I just thought I’d share some information,” the boy smiles smugly, “But, oh dear brother of mine, if you don’t want it…” 

Sungyeol narrows his eyes, “Lee Daeyeol if you think for even a second, I’ll trust YOU-“

“It’s about the war,” Daeyeol sings and that successfully shuts Sungyeol up.   His brother may joke about a lot of things, but Sungyeol knows Daeyeol must have serious information.  “I heard something.”

Sungyeol is hesitant, “Something you shouldn’t have.”  He deadpans and Daeyeol nods.  This war isn’t much to them, just yet.  Sungyeol is only fifteen and despite his skill, the air nation generals refuse to tell him anything, or let him fight in this war.  “So what have I got to do to weasel it out of you?”

Daeyeol pretends to look appalled, “Oh dear brother of mine, how could you say such a thing?”  He pretends to wipe tears off his cheeks, “You really think that I’d force you to do something for me, just for this?”

Sungyeol raises his eyebrow – Daeyeol’s getting too sassy for his own good.  “Just stop.”

Daeyeol shrugs, “Make some offers, maybe if you got something good, I’ll let you in.”

Daeyeol starts skipping off with a peeved off Sungyeol on his tail.  “Um, desert for a week?  My autograph?”  Daeyeol stops to give him a what-the-fuck look and smack him on the head.  “Alright fine, but it’s hard to make offers when you have literally everything you could want.”  Sungyeol snaps.

Daeyeol scoffs, “You know, making me sound like a spoiled brat isn’t helping your case.”

“Not my fault it’s the truth.” Sungyeol mutters.  “Alright give me some options, what _do_ you want?”

Daeyeol taps his chin as if he’s debating, but Sungyeol knows he’s got something on his mind from the look in his eyes.  “How about an exchange, info for info.”  Sungyeol gestures for him to continue, “Who was that boy that came running down the stairs this morning from the roof garden?  I thought you made sure no one went up there anymore.”

Sungyeol snarls, “Some dumb earth bender boy.  I don’t know who he was, but he had the _nerve_ to watch me bend and then-“

Daeyeol puts his hand over his mouth to shut him up, “Didn’t need a rant buddy, no need to get all worked up.  An earth bender boy? Is he a part of the military?”  Sungyeol shrugs, but he really doesn’t think so.  He seemed to sickly looking.  “Wow that wasn’t as juicy as I was hoping,” Daeyeol whines.

Sungyeol holds back kicking him in the shin, he still wants that information anyway.  “But a deal’s a deal I guess.  I heard the Air Nation nobles and Earth Nation generals are having a meeting right now, talking about the war.  I think they’re going to ambush the Fire Nation holding down the Southern Water tribe,” Daeyeol keeps his voice low and is weary.

“Right now? You mean in the court hall?”  Daeyeol nods and tosses him a smile.  He already knows the look in his brother’s eyes.

“Don’t tell ‘em I said anything if you get caught, and I still get your dessert for the next week!”  Before he can smack him, Daeyeol ducks and scampers off.   

With his talent, Sungyeol can easily make his footsteps airy and light.  Eavesdropping isn’t necessarily a common thing for him, but ever since the war started, it became one.  They don’t tell him _anything_ and that makes him angry.  Sungyeol wants to be informed too, he wants to play a part in this war, too.

Sungyeol is careful on making his way towards the court hall – but before he gets close enough to hear anything, his sharp eyes catch something.   Pressed against the wood-grain door is the earth bender boy.  His ear is flat against the surface and he’s deeply focused.  It doesn’t seem like the boy can hear much though, because he reaches up to push the door open just a little more but-

Sungyeol quickly slaps one hand over his mouth and stops him from opening the door with his other.  He whispers against the boy’s ear as softly as he can.  “It creaks you idiot! Don’t move!”

Howon breathes a sigh of relief and gives Sungyeol an angry glare.  He almost screamed and his stomach was already nervous because of what he was doing.  But, he guesses, if Sungyeol’s here, they have the same purpose. 

With an earth bender, this might make his eavesdropping technique easier, Sungyeol thinks.  “Ok, I need you to remove a small piece of wood,” Sungyeol outlines the block he’d prefer gone with his finger, “As quietly and discreetly as possible,” 

Howon would think about being skeptical, but now isn’t the time and obeys quietly.  He focuses his eyes on the imaginary line Sungyeol drew, and with a small jerk of his finger, a small portion of the door is out and in his hand in seconds.  

Sungyeol grunts in approval.  He forms a small tube of wind in his hands and gently sends one end through Howon’s freshly made hole, and keeps the other end on the outside.  The second it’s complete, Howon can hear so clearly it’s almost as if he’s in the same room.

“-just do nothing!”  That’s Howon’s father’s voice.  “That’s immoral, the Southern Water tribe have been our allies for a long time.  We have to help them somehow.”

“Morally, of course we should help.”  The voice sounds old and raspy, Howon already thinks he doesn’t like this guy.   And judging by the look of disgust on Sungyeol’s face, he doesn’t like him either.  “But logically, there is not much we can do.  The fire nation has outlawed bending for the past 10 years, the ports are heavily guarded and the water benders in the tribe are slim.”

“Surely we can spare some men to attempt a rescue mission,” Sungyeol smiles at that voice and visibly fist pumps.  Howon assumes this one must be a good guy. “At least save a few benders for the time being where they can at least nurture their talent,”

“The Southern Water tribe is very loyal to its land,” the raspy man speaks again, “I do not think any one of them will leave like that,”

“Well for the preservation of their people,” Howon’s father retaliates, and in this case Howon fist pumps.  “They must be willing to do something,”

“Perhaps –“the raspy voice begins but suddenly the room falls silent.  Howon waits eagerly for him to continue, but Sungyeol’s air tube vanishes.   Sungyeol looks at it incredulously for five seconds before he squeaks and grabs Howon’s arm.

“We need to run!” He has Howon tight in his grasp and the two of them are sprinting much faster than Howon thinks he’s ever ran in his life.

 Every time Sungyeol looks back, there’s a light gray tint in his eyes and he can tell that this must be his doing, some wind thing to make them move faster.   Sungyeol zips down the hallway with Howon’s wrist still in his hold until they’re at the very border of the western temple. 

“That was close.” Sungyeol gasps, panting heavily.

“It…” Howon pauses to take a gulp of air too, Sungyeol may have done all the bending, but oddly enough to Howon it feels as if he’s run a marathon.  “…was.” 

“Why were you even there?”  Sungyeol asks, hands on his knees and still sucking in air as if his lungs have been deprived for centuries.  “Or is being in places you aren’t supposed to a thing for you?”

“You’re one to talk,” Howon scoffs, “You had the same idea as me!”

“That’s not important right now,” Sungyeol waves it off and grabs Howon’s arm again, this time much rougher.  “What _is_ important is the fact that you would’ve been caught in _seconds_ if it weren’t for me, and you still haven’t apologized for puking all over my shoes!” 

Howon tries to resist the urge to snort.  Tries.  He snorts and shoves Sungyeol off roughly, “Yea well sorry Mr. Lotion-Face – terribly sorry I ruined your designer shoes!” 

“They were a gift!” Sungyeol declares hotly.

Howon snickers, “From who? Some Valentine princess that confessed to the almighty air bending protégé?” Howon isn’t very careful about minding his words anymore.

“No!”  Sungyeol squeaks (it’s true, though).  “Apologize properly you rat!”  Sungyeol lunges for Howon but he just manages to side step and dodge.  Sungyeol crosses his arms over his chest, “What’s your name, anyway?”

Howon stops to think if he should answer for a second, but doesn’t really think much harm can come of it.  “Howon, my name is Lee Howon.”  


“Ew.”  Sungyeol grunts in disgust.  “That’s such an ugly name, I’m changing it.” 

Howon blinks.  “You can’t just change my name.  I don’t even know you.”

“You puked on my shoes.” Sungyeol deadpans.  “You owe me something.”

“I don’t think I owe you my _name_ for throwing up on your shoes.” Howon barks out a laugh.  He means to stomp off with grace, but he ends up tripping over a rock and goes headfirst into a tumble.

_Over the edge of the temple._

Howon lets out a pitiful little yelp when the ground isn’t underneath his feet anymore.  Thankfully (Howon will question how thankful he is for this later) Sungyeol reacts quickly and blankets him with a bucket of air.  “Holy shit are you stupid?” 

Howon whimpers and starts clawing at the wind below him because Sungyeol still hasn’t pulled him back to safety.  “L-Let me back up!”  He feels his dinner crawling up in his throat, “Seriously I feel like I’m gonna throw up again!” 

Sungyeol laughs an evil little laugh and Howon sees his soul being sold to the devil before his eyes. “Only if you let me change your name.”

“No!” 

Sungyeol lets go of Howon for five seconds and watches him flail around mid-air screaming before catching him again.  “Are you _sure_ about that?”  He calls over the edge.

“Fine, fine whatever!”  It’s not like Howon plans on spending any more time with this idiot anyways.  “Just bring me back up.”

Sungyeol shrugs his shoulders and lifts Howon back onto solid ground in the blink of an eye.  Howon is cowering with fear and lets out a groan.  “I hate you.”  He grumbles.

“That’s what friends are for, dearest Hoya!”

Howon just shoves his faces into the dirt.

“I hate my life.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> very first not emotionally traumatizing chapter i got out of this au. unless you're howon.


	5. four

The first thing Myungsoo feels is his head throbbing.   He groans loudly and tries to sit up, but ends up falling back down on something soft.  Myungsoo doesn’t bother opening his eyes or trying to get up after he feels fingers threading through his hair.  “Sunggyu Hyung?  What happened?”

“You were fucking stupid.”  Sunggyu snarls, but he’s still gentle in his hair.  “How do you feel?”

“Not very good,” Myungsoo answers honestly.  He feels a pair of foreign hands gently begin to lift his head up and Myungsoo finally opens his eyes. 

“You should try to sit up,” Woohyun tells him, “You’ll get better faster.”  He smiles and softly ruffles Myungsoo’s hair.  Myungsoo rubs his eyes and presses his hands against his face, trying to dull the ache in his head.

“I feel like shit anyway,” He grumbles. 

Sunggyu snarls.  Woohyun laughs. “I guess it’s a side-effect.” 

“A side effect of being fucking stupid.” Sunggyu grunts.

“You have quite the way with words,” Woohyun rolls his eyes and Sunggyu resists the urge to slap him.

Myungsoo interrupts their squabble by clearing his throat, “Can I get a glass of water?”  Sunggyu gives him a pitiable look and Myungsoo finally takes in his surroundings fully.  The ground is clear of any snow – it looks as though it has been pushed out; judging by the piles in the corner – and they’re snuggled together in some kind of cave.   If he looks outside, he can see pure white snow gleaming in the sunlight.  He stretches his neck and peers around the bend to see that they’re up a slope somewhere and out in the distance he sees the peaks of mountains dusted with fresh snow.  They always looked so far from their home, but they look so close now that Myungsoo thinks he could probably take a trip to the top if he wanted. 

But he’s never even _seen_ them this close before, not that he’s ever gone too far beyond the tribe borders anyways.  “Where are we?”

“In the mountains,” Sunggyu swallows, “About half a day’s walk from home.” 

“Possibly longer, we were running most of the time.”  Woohyun points out, but quickly shuts up when he notices Sunggyu’s glare. 

Myungsoo tries to swallow but his throat is dreadfully dry.  Sunggyu lets out a sigh and tosses him a water bottle, “Drink sparingly, that’s all we have right now.” 

Myungsoo takes a careful sip and the weight of Sunggyu’s words dawn on him.  “Wait a second, if it took you half a day to get here, how long have I…?” He trails off.

“That was pretty cool, you know, what you did a few days ago.”  Woohyun smiles softly as an answer.

“It was also fucking stupid,” Sunggyu reminds with a growl.   Woohyun rolls his eyes at him. 

“Water bending?” Myungsoo clarifies – Woohyun nods, “A few days ago?”  It felt like he’d only done it a few minutes ago at most. 

Myungsoo has a look of pure shock on his face, one that does not go unnoticed by his companions. “You’ve been out for three days, Myungsoo.”  Sunggyu says carefully. 

“W-What?”  Myungsoo splutters, he can still barely stand, but he tries anyway.  He ends up tumbling back in Sunggyu’s arms.  “How can it have been three days?” 

Woohyun chuckles, “You created a tidal wave – after 10 years of little to no bending at all.  Did you think you’d walk out of their without some kind of effect?” 

“Well…” Myungsoo fumbles on his words, “No but I didn’t think…”  

“Clearly not,” Sunggyu growls. “You didn’t think at all.” 

Myungsoo promptly shuts up and lightly shoves Sunggyu with all the strength he can muster. He’s so weak it doesn’t do much at all. Myungsoo has one more question, but he’s afraid of the answer.  It dances on his tongue while they sit in silence.  Myungsoo sees the hollow look in Sunggyu’s eyes and he thinks he knows the answer.  “We can’t go back anymore.”  He whispers. 

Sunggyu looks at Myungsoo with a glare and is about to yell, but the saddened puppy-dog look in Myungsoo’s eyes makes him stop.  Myungsoo’s hurting just as much as him.  They lost their home.  They lost everything.   “We’d all be executed,”  Sunggyu sighs, “They wouldn’t let you live for bending, wouldn’t let me live for helping you escape, and you,” Sunggyu narrows his eyes and glares at Woohyun, “Well you might be executed by _me_ before they even get the chance to touch you.”

Woohyun starts to laugh, but it dies out when Sunggyu doesn’t join him.  “Um, sorry?  This isn’t my fault.” 

Sunggyu scoffs, “You had him down,” he growls, “If you would’ve just kept him down, this wouldn’t be happening right now, we could be at home right now!” 

“I’m happy he let me go.”  Myungsoo butts in, earning a hard stare from Sunggyu, but he ignores it anyway.  “I wanted to help, I’d feel like shit if I didn’t.” 

Sunggyu gives him an angered sigh, “That’s very nice and noble of you,” he spits, “But you should have thought it through.  Where are we going to _go_ Myungsoo?”  Sunggyu feels bad seeing Myungsoo fidget uncomfortably under his gaze.  “The captain isn’t going to take us in. He wouldn’t dare.  No one is.  We’re homeless.”  

A lump forms in his throat and Sunggyu has to hold back tears, the reality already settled in his stomach three days ago, but it settles deeper and he starts to choke.  “We can’t see our parents anymore, I can’t fish with the other boys anymore.  You can’t eat that fire candy and we can’t…”  Sunggyu starts to choke on his words and begins to hiccup and gradually, Sunggyu starts sobbing into his hands. 

Myungsoo’s eyes are wet too, and he feels helpless.  It’s the first time he’s seen Sunggyu cry, and he doesn’t know what to do.  The helplessness sits in his stomach and Myungsoo doesn’t know what to say, “I’m sorry Hyung, but I don’t regret it.” 

“I know.”  Sunggyu whimpers, “I don’t either but I…I just want to go home.” 

Woohyun reaches out and wipes away some of the tears on Sunggyu’s cheeks, even though more are coming.  “But that wasn’t home.”  He speaks softly and Sunggyu looks up at him ready to yell, but he quickly speaks again.  “It’s not what your home should be and you know that,”

Sunggyu shoves him off, “So what? It’s not what home should be but it’s what home is, what am I supposed to do about it?”

“Change it.”  Woohyun says simply.

With tears still glistening in his eyes, Sunggyu’s jaw drops.  Woohyun has a hard look on his face and even Myungsoo looks at him wide eyed.  “You’re crazy.”  Sunggyu spits at him. 

Woohyun starts to laugh.  “Am I?”  He knocks on Myungsoo’s forehead and the younger wrinkles his nose.  “This kid here sent a wave like a million times his size to save someone on a boat, and you picked him up and ran for about half a day to keep him safe.  I think if anyone can do anything, it’s you two.”  Woohyun says proudly.

Sunggyu stammers, “That’s not…that’s different! It’s…we just….Myungsoo….” he searches for words, and ends in a snarl, “That doesn’t even make sense! We’re two people! We can’t take down the entire fire nation!”

“Hey, but you have me!”  Woohyun grins and does what he thinks is a cute expression.  Sunggyu throws his head back with a groan.

Myungsoo gently taps Woohyun on the shoulder, “Don’t ever do that face again.  It’s scary.”  Woohyun frowns at him. 

“But Hyung….why can’t we do something?”  Myungsoo has a hopeful look in his eyes and Sunggyu glares daggers into Woohyun for planting ideas into his head.  “I don’t want to live like this anymore, I want to be able to bend.” 

Sunggyu runs his hands down his face and he feels more tears forming in his eyes.  He’s not even crying because he’s upset anymore – it's pure frustration.  “Myungsoo you are ONE water bender.  I’m human.  And god knows what the fuck this kid does!”  Sunggyu whacks Woohyun hard enough that he whimpers, “We can’t take on an army of millions!”

“It only takes one person to change the world,” Woohyun smiles, “And we have three people! We’re already ahead of the game!”

 Sunggyu snarls, “Oh? You wanna play the old-ancient-saying game? Fine.  How about Rome wasn’t built in a day?  Or I’ll burn that bridge when I get there?  Except wait, that bridge is probably already burnt, _by the fucking fire nation_.” 

“I was hoping you would talk about the one about floating boats.” Woohyun smiles cheekily.

Sunggyu lets out a loud wail. “I knew you were trouble.”  He growls, but his eyes are still wet and it comes off more pathetic than he would have liked it to be. 

“Well, I’m going to do something.”  Myungsoo declares, ignoring the look of horror etched on Sunggyu’s face.  “I don’t want to live like this and I’m gonna stop it.” 

“And just what are you gonna do?” Woohyun smiles brightly and Sunggyu feels the urge to cry again.

“I’m gonna sneak on a boat to the air nation.”  Myungsoo sees Sunggyu beginning to protest but quickly continues, “The western air temple is famous for that one library, right? The first thing we should do is gather information.” Myungsoo turns to Sunggyu to see him let out a sigh.  He continues anyway, “Well there’s a group that’s traveling there soon.  If we can hitch a ride on that boat, we can just follow them from wherever they dock. But I don’t know when it’s leaving I…I’ve been out for a while and I can’t remember when-” 

“You really want to do this?”  Sunggyu’s voice is soft and he’s drawing patterns on the cave floor with his gloves.  He doesn’t look up and Myungsoo isn’t sure if the question is directed at him or if Sunggyu has truly gone crazy and is talking to himself.  But then he looks up and Myungsoo almost thinks he sees a little bit of determination in Sunggyu’s eyes, “Well?”

“Don’t you?”  Myungsoo responds, “Don’t you want to be free again, see the water shows again? We could come back heroes, Hyung.”

“Or we could come back dead.”  Sunggyu snorts. 

“It’s not like we have anywhere else to go,” Myungsoo reminds him. “They destroyed our home, they made it so we can’t go back unless we fix it.”

Woohyun casts Myungsoo a smile when he also sees a small flicker of fiery determination.  “It leaves tomorrow morning.”  Sunggyu lets out a sigh.  “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”

Myungsoo sports a broad smile and crawls over to wrap Sunggyu in a hug.  “You won’t regret it Hyung, it’ll be worth it when we come back!”

“ _If_ we come back,” Sunggyu reminds him, but pats his back anyway.  He turns to Woohyun, “Well, did you get bored of this scenery too?  Or do you plan on staying?”

Woohyun grins, “White’s not really my style anyway,”

Sunggyu rolls his eyes, “Pity.”  He quickly stands to his feet and hoists Myungsoo up with him. “We better get started, the journey’s definitely at least half a day.”

Myungsoo quickly gets to his feet and is dusting remnants of snow off his jacket and Sunggyu lets out a deep sigh.  Woohyun gives them both a hard smile, “It’s hard, what you’re doing,” Sunggyu would snap a snide comment (he’s not so fond of Woohyun anymore, he almost thinks he should’ve let the kid freeze beneath the docks) but the look in Woohyun’s eyes shows that he’s serious.  That he’s being sincere and Sunggyu doesn’t have the strength to be snippy anymore anyway.  “Leaving your home is really hard, but I promise, it’ll all be worth it in the end.”

Sunggyu sighs, “Don’t promise things you don’t mean, there isn’t any guarantee any of us are getting anywhere alive.”

Woohyun still smiles, “But if anyone dies, at least it’s for a good cause right? You’ll die for your freedom.”

Sunggyu gives Myungsoo a look – he nods eagerly in agreement – and looks back towards Woohyun and starts out of their cave with a long sigh.  “For freedom, then.”

 

* * *

 

His heart is thumping in his ears; it's so dead quiet that Sunggyu thinks he can hear the adrenaline pumping in his veins.  He thinks he may have agreed to the situation a bit rashly – not that he really should have agreed ever.  But it’s not like they can turn back anymore so they wait.  Myungsoo is gripping his hand so hard he can feel his fingers leaving imprints on his forearm even through his thick jacket, but that’s not what Sunggyu worries about right now. 

They discussed the plan on the way here, it was pretty simple.  There was a small window leading to the cargo room on every ship, the only hope Sunggyu had was that the cabin boys forgot to lock it (which, really, is almost always, it truly isn’t that important of a window).  But still, Sunggyu prays that no one decided to be responsible all of a sudden and locks it shut. 

From there, the plans are still rather simple.  Do not get caught.   

And sadly, that’s all they have.  That’s all they’ve got planned so far and the thought makes Sunggyu’s stomach flip so he chooses not to think about the inevitable, ‘so now what?’ if they reach the western air temple in one piece.  For now, he’ll choose to think about getting there safely first. 

Sunggyu tries to calm his racing heart by counting the creaks in the wood every time someone boards the ship.  He listens to the footsteps and voices and tries to see if he can figure out the captain of the ship.  It doesn’t really matter much anyway, it was only Captain Jungyeop that had even bothered to look at them, let alone speak to them.  It doesn’t matter, if they get caught, they’re doomed.

Woohyun squeezes his hand reassuringly, noticing the tension practically oozing out of him.  And was this any other situation, Sunggyu would’ve shoved him off.  But right now the more moral support the better.  He counts to ten when he’s sure the last of the men have boarded and takes a deep breath.  “Well, it’s now or never.”  He whispers into the dead of the night. 

Slipping out and onto the deck is a little tricky.  Sunggyu warns Woohyun to follow their footsteps carefully – only they know which boards are safe enough to walk on.  With careful precision, and sticking as close to the side of the boat as possible, they manage to reach the underside of the window without being seen or heard. 

Sunggyu can tell the window isn’t locked and breathes a silent sigh of relief.  He takes a deep breath and gently tries to pry open the handle.

But it doesn’t budge. 

Sunggyu’s stomach starts to sink and he pulls harder and harder until he’s pouring all his strength into it.  Yet, it still doesn’t budge.  “It’s not locked, the latch isn’t done, but it…”  Sunggyu takes a closer look and notices the crystal ice jammed around the window and lets out a whimper, “It’s iced over.”

Myungsoo pushes him to the side and focuses all his energy on the menace.  The more time it takes, the more fidgety Sunggyu becomes.  He knows that Myungsoo is trying his best, but this is a huge risk.  The longer they stand here, in the open, is more time for them to get caught.  And that’s not the only risk there running, the boat is bound to take off at any moment. 

Myungsoo’s only managed to crack half the amount of ice and he’s already panting and sweating.  Sunggyu takes a deep breath and wraps both his hands on the handle again.  Myungsoo can’t go any further or he’ll faint again, and that ruins everything.  “Here goes nothing.”  He takes a deep breath.

Sunggyu puts as much strength as he can into yanking the window open and pulls so hard that he tumbles backwards and almost lands on a creaky floor board.  Thankfully, Woohyun was close behind and catches him just in time.  “Careful,” he whispers, Sunggyu shoots him a glare.

Myungsoo climbs in first, being hoisted up by Sunggyu and Woohyun, and helps pull Sunggyu in after him. They both have Woohyun shimmying up the side of the boat, tight grip on both their arms when the loud horn sounds and they begin to move. 

Myungsoo’s eyes look horrified and Woohyun’s face has gone ghostly pale.  It’s the first time Sunggyu’s seen Woohyun scared at all.  Sunggyu knows that one of the cabin boys is going to look over the side of the boat soon – it's protocol to be sure that nothing will disturb the ride from the dock.  And surely a nameless boy hanging off the side of the boat and two runaway water nation natives with their hands stretched outside will classify as something strange.   And no way is there enough time for Woohyun to crawl through in time – not with the ice still stuck to the side of the ship.

“Hyung…” Myungsoo whimpers, and Sunggyu realizes that he needs to take charge. He’s working with two boys - both a good few years younger than him - and even though he was opposed to the idea whole-heartedly, Sunggyu refused to allow either of them to die as long as he lived. 

“Woohyun, you’re going to have to trust me and do as I say.”  Woohyun gives him a small nod, but he still looks afraid.  “You need to press yourself as flat against the boat as you can, beneath the window. Me and Myungsoo are only going to be hanging on by the tips of your fingers so keep a strong grip.”  Woohyun doesn’t protest, but he looks a little green at the idea.   “You can’t be seen, and neither can we. I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise.”

Sunggyu presses his body beneath the window and listens.  His heart is still thumping loudly in his ears but he’s more focused on Myungsoo’s harsh breathing beside him.  He’s more focused on Woohyun’s trembling fingers clinging to him for dear life.  Sunggyu waits and holds his breath.  Myungsoo’s breathing so rapidly out of fear it’s more than enough for the both of them.

“All clear Captain!”

Sunggyu still waits and counts to ten in his head as slowly as his heart allows.  He doesn’t even hesitate the second he hits ten and adjusts his grip on Woohyun’s forearm.  “We’re going to pull you in instead, alright? Forget crawling up the side.”  Woohyun tosses him a weak nod and Sunggyu turns towards a shaken Myungsoo. 

He can’t blame him really, he’s surprised he isn’t as torn up as Myungsoo is.  Someone’s life is in their hands.  But somehow Sunggyu knows he can’t afford that.  He can’t afford to break because he knows that Myungsoo will, and maybe even Woohyun will.  And somehow Sunggyu knows – he’s going to have to fix them when they do.

“On the count of three, got it Myung?”  Myungsoo warily nods his head. “One.”  Sunggyu tightens his grip. “Two.”  He takes a deep breath. “Three!”  He heaves with all his might, and thankfully, Woohyun topples threw the open window and falls on the both of them – all in one piece. 

Sunggyu goes to push him off but instead Woohyun wraps him in a hug and lets out a shaky breath.  He doesn't  expect Woohyun to speak, and he doesn’t, not for a long time.  Sunggyu just lets him lay there, on his chest, shaken from the experience, and slightly shaking from the cold.  Myungsoo lays beside him, a little calmer than before, and Sunggyu sighs. 

“Freedom isn’t an easy path.”  He gently pushes Woohyun off and shuts the window to stop the draft.  “But you can’t go back once you’ve chosen it.”

“We don’t want to.”  Woohyun and Myungsoo say simultaneously. 

Sunggyu smiles, “Yea, I know.”  He shrugs his shoulders, “Me neither, I guess.” 


	6. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took so long! but college is awful at letting me do fun things

His father laughs when he tells him he never wants to go on a vacation to the Western air temple ever again.  “He can’t possibly be that bad Howon, he’s just a boy after all.”

“He changed my name!”  Howon whines, “Can’t you send me back home? He’s driving me crazy!”  His father laughs and ruffles his hair, earning a grunt from his son.  Howon crosses his arms and pouts, his brothers told him it made him look like a baby, but he doesn’t care right now.  Not when that air freak is driving him mad. 

Howon’s only been here for a week of his month long vacation and Lee Sungyeol has become number one on his list of people to never talk to ever.  It’s quite remarkable, really, that one freaky girl that felt up his muscles every time he saw her held that spot pretty tightly.  Sungyeol deserves a medal or something. 

“At least he makes it interesting,” his father adjusts his general badge and Howon lets out a long sigh.  He feels a little guilty for wanting a bit more sympathy out of his dad, but he thinks that as the only son that was nice enough to accompany him on the trip he deserves a little bit of attention (the fact that he has his own sneaky reasons can be ignored in this situation). 

He goes to complain again but the tired look in his father’s eyes shuts him up.  Howon lets out another dejected sigh, he can’t just demand attention from one of the earth nation’s most prized generals.  He knows better than that.  “Interesting is an understatement,” he mumbles instead, arms still crossed, and pout still intact.

His father tosses him a stern look that Howon reads as ‘behave and make friends’ before taking off for another meeting.  Damn air nation people are workaholics.  Howon rolls his eyes and kicks off his bed to at least take a walk.  He may even find Daeyeol – he’s a snarky little brat, but more tolerable than Sungyeol.  Daeyeol’s also got a never-ending source of information.

Howon doesn’t really bother much with politeness anymore.  He keeps his eyes trained to the ground to avoid eye contact and avoid awkward greetings.  He likes it better this way, he likes marking out the patterns in the grain in the wood and the dirt in the walls.  It’s not as interesting as Sungyeol – but Sungyeol is the type of interesting Howon is desperately trying to avoid. 

Of course with his luck – and lack of directional skills – he ends up back at the base of the staircase that started this hell in the first place.  Howon suppresses a groan, and tries to stealthily slip away without being noticed.  But of course Howon isn’t so lucky, and Sungyeol and his airy footsteps are at the base of the step in seconds.  “I’ve been expecting you.”  He wrinkles his eyebrows and gives him a gummy smile.  “We have important matters to discuss.”

Howon rolls his eyes, “We don’t have anything more to discuss.”

Sungyeol snorts, “Don’t you want to know who’s going to be dropping by soon? Daeyeol may have told me some stuff.”  Sungyeol whistles and watches Howon let out a nasty growl.

Most unfortunately for Howon, Daeyeol often discloses most of his information to Sungyeol.  Stupid brotherly love.  And as much as Howon wants to cover Sungyeol with a mountain of dirt and listens to him suffocate, he has information.  He hates Sungyeol, but he wants information. 

And Howon learns something about Sungyeol and Daeyeol, and maybe every other helpless teenager that are kept in the dark.  They know about as much as he does.  Howon doesn’t like Sungyeol, but he can empathize with him. 

So Howon finds Sungyeol tolerable only when he has something to tell him.  It’s kind of sad in a way – this crooked friendship started because of the war.  But Howon doesn’t think it’s too sad because he really, _really_ does not like Sungyeol. 

Howon narrows his eyes, “Who’s coming?”

Sungyeol cackles and throws his arm around Howon’s shoulder and starts to guide him up the steps.  Howon throws him off with a grunt and pouts again. “The fire nation.”  Sungyeol pokes his cheek.  “Hey that’s kinda cute,” 

Howon stops dead in his tracks, “The fire nation?”

Sungyeol pushes him up the stairs, “Wait until we’re at the top, I’ll explain more.”

Howon bolts up the remainder of the steps and turns to Sungyeol with a serious face.  “Lee Sungyeol this better be some kind of joke,” but Howon sees that Sungyeol’s eyes are serious.  He knows Sungyeol enough to know that he’s not lying about this.  “Shouldn’t the air nation be preparing? Shouldn’t your borders be guarded heavily?”

“They come in peace….supposedly,” Sungyeol swallows and Howon can tell he doesn’t buy that shit.  Howon doesn’t buy that shit, either.  “Apparently they have some terms they would like the air nation to consider, and they’ll leave us alone.”  Sungyeol looks fidgety and that makes Howon nervous.

“But obviously you won’t be agreeing.”  Howon can hear the fear in his own voice.  “The air nation has been our ally this whole time!”

Sungyeol gulps down loudly.  “The…the other three air temples have agreed.”

Sungyeol’s words sink into silence.  Howon is too stunned to say anything.  Sungyeol listens to the wind rustling the grass, he counts to ten in his head, and he waits.  He looks in Howon’s eyes and it’s hard to say what he’s thinking.  His expression is solid, and it really hits Sungyeol that Howon is an earth bender.  He isn’t a part of the air nation.  He doesn’t have the patriotism that Sungyeol’s grown up with.  And to Sungyeol, that’s a breath of fresh air.

“Oh.” 

“I don’t want us to agree.”  Sungyeol says, as stoic as Howon.  Sungyeol never liked how everyone followed their leaders like puppy dogs.  Sungyeol didn’t like how it was hard to find someone that disagreed with anything these days.  It was like everyone was forced into the same opinions – he hated it. 

“I don’t want you to either.”  Howon looks up and watches Sungyeol play with the clouds.  He’s frowning and looks like he’s thinking really hard.  And Howon thinks, maybe Sungyeol really isn’t so bad, he may be stupid and dumb and mess with him a lot, but Sungyeol could be a decent friend if he tried. 

“But enough of this sad talk!”  Sungyeol claps his hands loud and it makes Howon jump.  He deserves that for trying to think of Sungyeol as a _decent_ person.  “Do you know what _else_ an incoming ship means?”  Sungyeol wriggles his eyebrows.

Howon snorts, “It must be something to do with you if you’re so excited about it,”

Sungyeol frowns and whacks him on the head.  “You make it sound like all I ever do is talk about myself,”

Howon laughs, loud and sarcastic, and is about to fall into a rant of how Sungyeol has never said one thing that isn’t about him but shuts up seeing the evil glint in his eyes.  “Fine, fine.  What is it then?”

 Sungyeol points towards the sky and Howon follows his finger, “Ships are carried to the tip of the temple by a team of air benders where they unload before they’re sent back down.  It’s fun to watch.”  Sungyeol gives him a smug look, “And you know when it’s even _more_ fun?”

Howon rolls his eyes, “Don’t think I want to,”

Sungyeol snarls, “It’s even _more_ fun when you can actually fly to the top,”

Hoya suppresses the urge to smack Sungyeol in the head, “Oh wow, perks of being an air nation protégé I guess.” 

Sungyeol crosses his arms and huffs, “I was gonna take you, but if that’s the attitude you’re gonna use then forget it, enjoy the view from down here.”

Hoya rolls his eyes and takes a peek over the side to see the ship pulling in towards the temple.  He can vaguely here Sungyeol blabbing when he sports a small smile.   Howon turns around and raises an eyebrow, “Are you so sure you’ll be able to make it up there?” 

Sungyeol looks at him and starts laughing, holding his stomach and showing his thick gums as if Hoya cracked the funniest joke in the world.  “Aren’t you forgetting, I’m a child prodigy?”

“You know, you never let me show you my bending,”   Howon says smugly.

“What has that got to do with anything?” 

Howon smirks and uses his power to pull out a few roots from the ground beneath Sungyeol’s shoes.  He laughs at the dolphin screech Sungyeol releases and quickly wraps the roots around his feet.  “Pretty, isn’t it?”  A few worms from the dirt crawl up Sungyeol’s legs and he shrieks and brushes them off, causing Howon to fall into a fit of laughter. 

“Hoya!”  Sungyeol cries and bends over to claw at the roots.  “Let me go! I’ll take you with me!”  Howon pretends to tap his chin in thought.

“Nope.” 

“Yah Lee Hoya!”

“Howon.”

Sungyeol growls and sends a burst of wind towards him that knocks him off his feet, but watching Sungyeol struggle is ridiculous and Howon is enjoying it too much to care.  He really should have thought of this earlier.  “Let me out! We’re gonna miss it!” 

Howon doesn’t care much about the ship. Watching Sungyeol frantically try to claw his way through the roots is just too funny.  He does bring out a whip of wind every now and then, sharp enough to slice through flesh, Howon thinks.  But every time he cuts through, Howon builds it back up again.  “This isn’t funny!” 

“Then why am I laughing?” He chokes about between fits of giggles. 

Sungyeol stops fidgeting and squats down with an angered grunt.  “I hate you.” He mumbles when the ship begins to rise out of the water and the tip soars right past them.  

It’s moving rather slow, and Howon ends up dropping his concentration and releasing Sungyeol’s bindings.  It isn’t because of the beauty of a massive ship soaring above his head or whatever, that really doesn’t mean much to him.  It’s because of what he sees inside it.

Way at the bottom, through a small open window, Howon sees a wide-eyed boy looking straight at him.  His black hair blows back against his face and his eyes widen when they meet Howon’s, he ducks away and shuts the window behind him.

 Howon looks at Sungyeol and they shout simultaneously, “Did you see that?!”

 

* * *

 

 

Sunggyu wakes up with a groan. They’ve been sleeping on the floor for days.  It makes Sunggyu’s bones creak every time he stands and he thinks he has a permanent ache in his back.  The wood creaks every time someone moves and Sunggyu learns over the nights that Woohyun tosses a lot in his sleep – the squeaks tell him that.  Woohyun learns that Sunggyu isn’t too kind on waking him up because of that.

 But seeing Myungsoo wake up to scamper to the window every morning makes it worth it.  His hair is still sticking up – he never bothers to waste the time and smooth it down, his eyes are still cloudy with sleep – he never rubs them.  Myungsoo utilizes every second he can.  The sleepiness in his eyes is washed out by the light blue and that makes it worth it.  Watching Myungsoo water bend makes everything worth it. 

Today though, Myungsoo is up before Sunggyu, and his hair is in place.   Sunggyu stands up and ignores the urge to kick Woohyun awake – he’ll let him off today.  “I can see the temple.” Myungsoo says. 

“We’re starting to float,” Sunggyu whistles slyly after sneaking a peak out the window.  “That’s pretty cool.”

Myungsoo rests his cheek on the window sill and watches the water drip off the boat as they rise.  He counts as many droplets as he can, he names a few of them too, and lets out a deep sigh before Sunggyu catches on.  “You’ll be able to bend again you know, that’s why we’re doing this.”

Woohyun jolts awake and nearly topples into Sunggyu as he clumsily gets to his feet.  Sunggyu rolls his eyes, “What nightmare did you have that got you up so early?”

Woohyun rubs the sleep out of his eyes and lets out a ferocious yawn.  Sunggyu sighs and fixes his hair for him.  “I dreamt of you kicking me.” 

Sunggyu actually kicks him. 

“Hyung!”  Woohyun whimpers but Sunggyu pretends to ignore him and turns back to Myungsoo.

“Hyung…what do we do now?”  Sunggyu’s stomach drops and he feels queasy.  Myungsoo doesn’t turn around, he watches the dripping slow down, and he starts to race them in his head.  He names one of them Myungsoo and he names one the Fire Nation and he watches.  Myungsoo bends so his droplet makes it to the ocean first.  He doesn’t want to think about what would happen if it were the other way.

“For now, we wait here.”  Sunggyu tries to say it firmly but he isn’t sure of himself either.  “Cargo is usually taken last.  If we wait long enough, there will be a moment where the ship is dead empty and we can escape, but we’ll have to be quick about it.”  Sunggyu ignores the ‘where are we gonna go?’ hanging in the air.  He doesn’t have an answer to that right now.

Sunggyu sits down on the floor again and leans back on the stacks of boxes.  He closes his eyes and listens to the whistling sounds of wind beneath the ship.  Woohyun scoots next to him and Sunggyu doesn’t even complain about the squeaky floor boards when he literally plops down beside him.

Myungsoo watches the last of the droplets fall and takes in the beauty of the floating air temple.  The ship is being lifted up a side with no people – he notes.  It’s covered in green and Myungsoo is shocked so many plants can grow in this condition.   But when he lifts his eyes, he meets something more astonishing. 

Myungsoo lifts his head off the windowsill and watches the two boys with interest.  He gasps when the shorter of the two ties down the taller with roots.  And it hits Myungsoo – he’s an earth bender.  He’s seeing earth bending for the very first time in his life.  His heart is racing and he is mesmerized.  And then the taller boy responds, he slices through the roots.  It takes Myungsoo a moment to realize but when he does he’s gripping the edge of the window so hard his fingers turn white.  An air-bender, the boy is an air-bender.  Myungsoo has never seen anything like this and it’s beautiful. 

The short boy laughs, he laughs so hard Myungsoo sees him shake and he can imagine the smile on his face.   He can imagine his eyes crinkling up and he can imagine the taller boy protesting between his own giggles.  He imagines both of them laughing without worry.  He wonders then – maybe this war is only bad for them. 

And then it hits Myungsoo again, if bending is against the rules – why are these boys bending?

Myungsoo is just about to turn to tell Sunggyu when their eyes meet.  The short boy’s eyes widen and Myungsoo feels fear crawling up inside him.  For a moment, he holds the short boy’s gaze, hoping he will bend again, too amazed to miss it.   But then he noticed the roots have fallen and the tall boy is looking at him too, and that makes Myungsoo feel sick and he ducks back under the window and whips around so fast that he falls onto Sunggyu.

Sunggyu yelps and shoves him off, “What the hell?”

“Hyung!”  Myungsoo frantically tries to speak, but fear and panic is taking over and he can barely force the words out.  “T-there were these boys and they saw me looking out the window and I don’t know why but they c-could bend and-“Myungsoo can’t help the fear building in him.

“Myungsoo!”  Sunggyu grabs his shoulders and Woohyun quickly slips past them and bolts the window shut.  “Calm down!” 

Myungsoo looks into Sunggyu’s eyes – he really looks and he sees it.  He sees the fear.  He sees the panic.  Sunggyu’s trying to hide it but Myungsoo knows.  And that makes him cry.  It makes him curl up against Sunggyu’s chest and burst into tears and squeeze his fingers into his shirt.  “You’re scared.”  Myungsoo starts to hiccup and he chokes.  Sunggyu _is_ scared.  He’s terrified.  Myungsoo can see it.  He’s never seen Sunggyu scared. “Hyung you’re scared.”  Myungsoo starts sobbing heavily and he whimpers into Sunggyu’s chest.   

Woohyun, surprisingly calm, starts to rub circles on Myungsoo’s back.  “It’s scary.”  He tells him.  “Everything about this is terrifying right now.  But you didn’t expect to walk in to this and not have scary moments.  It’ll get better someday. You’re here to make it not scary.”

They stay like that for a while.  Woohyun continues to pat Myungsoo’s back and Sunggyu holds him close.  The silence sits for a moment and it’s comforting. 

Until it’s broken.

Sunggyu let’s go of Myungsoo when the door is kicked open and two boys – looking no older than them – storm their way into the cargo hold.  One of them (the taller of the two) looks angry, and judging by the way that Myungsoo’s face pales; they’re the two boys from earlier.

“Who are you and what are you doing?”  The boy’s fingers glow a light gray and a thin whip of wind circles around his palms.   It moves around his hands almost too fast to see, but Sunggyu can make out the thin stream of air. 

Sunggyu’s breathe catches and he’s captivated by it.  “I haven’t seen air-bending in years.”  His voice comes out as a whisper and it takes him a moment to register that this boy isn’t someone he should be praising right now.   The boy narrows his eyes and he doesn’t look too happy.

The shorter boy, however, voices his confusion.  “What do you mean you haven’t seen an air bender in years?  Just where are you from?”

“Don’t converse with the enemy!”  The air bender spits and Sunggyu concludes that the shorter boy must be the earth bender Myungsoo was speaking of earlier.  The earth bender rolls his eyes and goes to speak again but the air bender cuts him off. 

“If you won’t answer me, I’ll make you!”  

Sunggyu doesn’t have the time to move – but he does have the time to feel death sinking into his system when he sees Sungyeol whip the wind at him so fast that it’s bound to sting when it strikes.  He screws his eyes shut and braces himself. Except it doesn’t strike.  Not him, anyway.  Not Myungsoo, either.  It instead gets hot – unbearably so.  It gets so hot that Sunggyu can feel a thin sheen of sweat sprouting off his forehead.  The confusion of it all makes him snap his eyes open – and this time Sunggyu gasps, loud.

A bright orange wall of flames separates them from the air bender.   They lick the base of the ship and Sunggyu can see the old, wooden boards burn to ash from the intensity.   There’s already a small growing pile of dark ash.   But that’s not really what hits Sunggyu the hardest.  It’s Woohyun’s glowing fingers and crimson red eyes that make his stomach drop.   He feels betrayed.  “I fucking knew it!” 

The wall of fire diminishes with a gust of wind on the tall boy’s part and the earth bender yells.  “Sungyeol you can’t just attack them!”  Sungyeol doesn’t get a chance to respond before Sunggyu has his fist on Woohyun’s face.

Woohyun lets out a gurgled sound and falls on his ass, blood dripping from his nose.  He looks up and Sunggyu sees those puppy eyes that he’d probably forgive for almost anything.  But not for this.  He couldn’t forget anyone for this.  “’I don’t have a nation?”  Sunggyu kicks him in the stomach so hard Woohyun starts to wheeze.  Woohyun’s hands instinctively go to grip his stomach and his breathing comes out in short quips. 

Sungyeol and the earth bender are stunned into silence at the outburst.  Too stunned to stop Sunggyu, too stunned to help Woohyun. 

Myungsoo feels numb.  Unsure of what to feel. 

“Fight for freedom, eh?”  Sunggyu sends a kick to Woohyun’s back and ignores the whimper that he releases.  He sounds like its immensely painful but Sunggyu doesn’t give a shit.  “I trusted you!”  He bends over and yanks Woohyun up by the collar of his shirt. 

“H-Hyung...i-it hurts,” Woohyun chokes out and his brown eyes are wet – and Sunggyu thinks they're tears.  

“Don’t call me that you fucker!”  Sunggyu pushes him to the ground and Woohyun’s knees buckle so he topples over – like a helpless little animal.  “We left our home for you! We trusted you! I could’ve stopped him if it weren’t for you! I could be with my parents if it weren’t for you!”  Sunggyu goes to kick him again but the earth bender boy slips under his arms and holds him back.  “I hate you! You ruined my life! You promised me we’d get our home back – but you ended up being a part of the shitty fire nation!” 

Something snaps in Woohyun.  It snaps so hard that it gives him enough strength to not only stand to his feet, but enough strength to poor all his strength in the most intense glare he can muster.  It snaps so hard that his voice comes out as if it were poison, deep and angered.  It scares the crap out of Myungsoo and maybe it’d scare Sunggyu too – if he weren’t fuming right now.  “Don’t you dare call that my nation.”

“Well…sounds like everyone’s got some explaining to do.”  The earth bender boy releases Sunggyu, but he’s still on his feet – just in case.  The tension in the air is heavy.  “My name is Howon,” Sungyeol coughs ‘Hoya’ under his breath but Howon ignores that.  “And I’m an earth bender.”  He pauses, “And I’m from the earth nation.”  He adds in the last part for Woohyun’s sake.

The room falls into silence.  Sunggyu plops on the floor beside Myungsoo and crosses his arms over his chest and refuses to even look at Woohyun. 

It takes a few minutes, but then a small voice adds:  “My name is Myungsoo, and that’s Sunggyu.  We’re both from the water nation – Southern water tribe specifically.”  Myungsoo pauses, Howon has a stoic expression but the air bender’s eyes are as wide as saucers.  “I’m a water bender – Hyung isn’t.”

“Sungyeol, air nation protégé,” Sungyeol introduces proudly (bow included).  Howon truly has a hard time resisting the urge to throw him out the window with his arms and legs tied so he can’t float his sorry ass back up.  “Obviously, I’m an air bender.”

“Woohyun,” Myungsoo winces at how ragged his voice sounds.  Sunggyu got at him hard.  “I bend fire.”  He pauses for a moment.  “I don’t have a nation.”

“That’s a load of-“ Sunggyu starts with a snarl but Myungsoo pinches him – hard.  Sunggyu roughly shoves him off – rougher than he’s ever done before.  Myungsoo feels a little guilty. 

“If he says he doesn’t have a nation, he doesn’t have a nation.” Myungsoo says sternly.  He expects some kind of retaliation from Sunggyu – but doesn’t get any.

“So, now that we’re all well acquainted,” Howon clears his throat, “What are you doing here?”

Myungsoo looks at Sunggyu who stares dejectedly at the window, he looks at Woohyun who has a hurt look in his eyes while tracing patterns on the ground.  Both Sungyeol and Howon are focused on him,

Myungsoo sighs, “That’s a…interesting story.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sunggyu is a big buttface


	7. six

The streets are fucked up – that’s the first thing Sungjong notices. 

The city is flooded up to his ankles and water sloshes against his knees with every step he takes. Loose wooden banisters (the ones that once held up fruit stalls and firework stands and candy shops and things Sungjong loved ever since he was young) float alongside him and sometimes knock up against his feet.  It’s silent besides the sound of running water.  The fire nation is not a silent place –it’s never been one. 

There’s always noise and people, but right now it’s quiet.  Sungjong doesn’t like it – he wants all that noise.  He wants the screaming children and raging fire.  He wants the street fights so loud that every trip into town makes his ears ache.  He wants it to be loud and rambunctious and impossible to hear yourself.  Sungjong wants it to be so he can’t even hear his own thoughts.  But the silence makes it possible.  The silence make them clearer and louder than they ever were, and Sungjong pretends they aren’t there.  He’s always pretended, but now it’s so much harder. 

Sungjong thinks of his mother and where she must be right now.  Sungjong wonders if she’s dead somewhere or if one of the damn water benders took her captive.  Sungjong thinks of what he’ll have to tell his father when he gets home and he thinks how much he failed him.  He promised to take care of her every time his father set out since he was seven.  It was only a ritual – something they told him to keep him happy while his father was away.  But the feeling of failure sinks into Sungjong’s stomach anyway.

The water moves like a stream, weakly carrying him forward.  It isn’t clear, it’s tinted a light pink.  It would be hard to tell but the sunlight reflects on the surface and it’s a sea of pink.  In the distance it looks blood red, and it’s funny that’s the color he associates it with.  Because it became this way because of blood.  Because of the fire nation’s blood.  Because of his nation’s blood.

That fuels his anger and silences his thoughts. 

He starts to pass through another part of town that makes him growl. Sungjong watches the earth and air bender captives picking through the water with their pants rolled up to their knees.  He watches them lay the wood out in the sun to dry – they don’t have the money to buy more.  But still their smiles are thick and cheery, some are so big that Sungjong can see their crooked teeth. He hears them laugh, voice filled with hope and he hears them sing – songs native to their nations.  There’s so much chatter and happiness and their eyes are lively and filled with hope. 

He wants to crush all of it. 

He has a snarl etched onto his face and curls his fists.  His nails dig into his palms and grits his teeth, his eyebrows are creased and Sungjong turns his nose up and stomps through the water as fast as possible.  All the cheeriness doesn’t sit well with him and he wants nothing more to be out of here and back to his part of town.

“Angry?” 

Sungjong stops in his tracks and takes a moment to feel the water seep into his shoes and wash in between toes.  He takes a moment to let that cold feeling move up from his toes into his heart before he turns around with the iciest glare he can manage.  “Excuse me?”

There’s a woman with bright brown eyes and wrinkly skin.  Her hair is white and her eyes crinkle into a smile and her teeth are yellowed and crooked – a few of them are missing and her lips are cracked too.  She’s ugly, she’s disgusting, and she makes Sungjong’s stomach churn.  He feels like he’s going to throw up.  But that’s not because of how she looks – it’s because of the shimmer in her eyes and the hope.  The hope makes him nervous and makes his fingers shake. 

The hope makes him fearful, makes him feel like the water isn’t up to his ankles but past his throat and filling his mouth.  It makes him feel like he’s suffocating and he’s been thrown into the ocean with no ability to swim while everyone watches him drown. It makes him feel like his lungs are burning and he’s clawing for air and everyone watches him sink.  He feels like he’s blacking out and coughing out water and all he can see is people laughing, no one helping, him dying.  He sees himself dying. The hope makes him feel like if he doesn’t crush it – he’s going to die. 

And maybe that’s what Sungjong’s afraid of the most; that he could die. 

 She cackles and looks at Sungjong with a challenging look.  “Your time is going to end.  This war will not be yours anymore.

And now Sungjong really _does_ feel like he’s suffocating.  He feels like the wind has been knocked out of him and all he has to do is open his mouth and _breathe_ but it’s like he’s forgotten and no one bothers to teach him again.  The people around the woman walk around and snicker at him and a few of them whistle as if nothing has changed and the level of happiness almost goes up and it all boosts the confidence of the woman.  Sungjong has to make it _stop_. 

“H-How dare you?”  His voice comes out squeaky and helpless.  It comes out filled with fear and Sungjong suddenly feels it flooding him like the water in his imagination.  He’s being flooded with fear.  The woman laughs, hearty and full.  She laughs so hard she has to hold her sides and Sungjong has to force himself to _breathe_ because he can’t even bend.  He wants to shut her up but he needs to breathe right. 

He tries to remember the exercises he learned when he was seven but he can’t.  All he remembers is the old earth bender woman that brought them juice and cookies and pat their heads.  All he can remember is the teacher singing her hair for fun and all the kids knocking her over even though she was so _nice_.  All he remembers is her pretty songs and her warm voice and he remembers when she made them pretty sand castles because they threatened to burn off her fingers and he remembers she would have done it anyway but the threat was for them.  The threat was to pretend they had power.  Sungjong is slowly forgetting how to do that – he doesn’t know how to pretend. 

The woman’s fingers glow light gray and a whip of wind slices through his cheek.  Sungjong vaguely registers that it stings and he watches the tinted water.  He watches the blood drip down his cheek and he watches it fall and mingle with the rest of the water.  He watches his own blood become a part of the sea and Sungjong wonders if it was already there to begin with.  Maybe his mother already made that contribution. 

And now Sungjong’s thoughts are shoved to the side and all he can hear echoing in his brain is the sound of earth and air benders cackling.  He hears them hooting and cheering and he knows their laughing at _him._ And all that makes him feel fear and anger in a big mess and rational thinking goes out the window.

Sungjong was always told one thing, _never_ bend fire when you can’t control your breathing.  It could be fatal to the bender but right now Sungjong can’t bring himself to care.  His fingers glow bright crimson and his eyes go orange and Sungjong feels his heart pounding against his chest and he really is suffocating right now. 

Sungjong feels like fire is filling in his lungs and he feels it pouring out of his mouth and he can’t see anything but red.   His fingers are burning and so are his insides and Sungjong remembers vaguely that he needs to _breathe_.

 He’s lucky he remembers – he would’ve burned himself up if he didn’t.  

He hears screaming and the sound of water sloshing until it’s silent again.  Sungjong coughs out the last of the fire in him and coughs out a good portion of blood with it.  Sungjong’s entire body shakes and shivers and his knees give in until he falls into the water – it’s warm, almost hot.   He just sits in it and closes his eyes, presses the heels of his palms against his eyes and listens to the sound of his own shaken breathing.  

He still ignores his thoughts. 

He doesn’t want to face them. 

“Taking a swim in the middle of the day?”  Sungjong opens his eyes (a little fuzzy because of how hard he pressed his hands against them) to glare at Dongwoo.

“What are you doing here?” He snaps and stands to his feet, his pants are soaked but he pretends like he didn’t just have a breakdown.  Weakness isn’t tolerated in the fire nation, even though Sungjong knows Dongwoo would hold him if he were to cry.  Dongwoo is weird like that.

Sungjong starts to trudge back through the water with Dongwoo by his side, “My mom told me to come find you for lunch, need to stay healthy in order to fight a war after all.”  Sungjong grunts in response and Dongwoo chuckles.  “Hey what happened to all the people here?” 

Sungjong’s stomach flips, “I scared them off.”

Dongwoo stops in his tracks and Sungjong feels suffocation piling in his lungs again.  Then Dongwoo starts walking again – even catches up with Sungjong – and whistles as if it was nothing out of the ordinary.  Sungjong is thankful for that.  “So any interesting revelations on this soul-seeking walk of yours?” 

Sungjong can’t help but crack a smile, “Nothing new, I just hate the water nation.  And the earth nation.  And the air nation.”

Dongwoo laughs, loud and rambunctious, and Sungjong feels better at the sound of it.  “Aren’t you missing one Mr. Cynical?”

Sungjong snorts, “We’re the only nation who knows what’s up,” 

Dongwoo snorts at this, “Or are we the only nation that’s acting like a big piece of shit?”  If it were anyone else Sungjong would have stopped dead in his tracks and demanded an explanation.  But the fact that it’s Dongwoo makes things a little more acceptable. 

“You shouldn’t let anyone official catch you saying that,” Sungjong tells him.  And he means it, he can’t bother to change Dongwoo’s opinions, but he can keep him from trouble.

“What are they gonna do, kill me?” 

“Probably,” Sungjong kicks a stone beneath the water along the path to keep his thoughts from straying much farther than Dongwoo.

“I don’t think I’d care.” 

Sungjong stops.  “What?”

Dongwoo whistles and walks past Sungjong and grabs his wrist to pull him along.  “Why’d you scare those people off, did they do anything to you?”  Sungjong knows Dongwoo doesn’t avoid questions from him – it’s not like him to do that.  So this scares him – but he doesn’t say anything.

“This lady…she made fun of me.  She said some things about the war and I didn’t like them.”  Sungjong feels like he’s five saying it.  He feels like he’s being a whiny brat right now – he scared off a group of old ladies because they didn’t agree with him.  He feels stupid and Dongwoo’s laugh makes him feel even stupider.  “It isn’t funny!”  He rips his arm from Dongwoo and crosses it over his chest, “She was talking shit about the fire nation; I had to do something.”

Dongwoo shrugs his shoulders and shoves his hands in his pockets, “No you didn’t. You can think for yourself too, Sungjong.”

Sungjong glances over his shoulders and the look in Dongwoo’s eyes is weird.  It’s warm and serious at the same time and Sungjong’s never seen anything like it.  He can tell Dongwoo’s trying to be stern but he’s also being careful – it’s strange.  It’s almost as if Dongwoo’s trying to give him a lecture.  “I always think for myself,” he retorts.

Dongwoo smiles softly, “What does this war mean to you?”

Sungjong knows what Dongwoo wants him to do.  He wants him to think.  He wants him to stop pretending that he can’t hear his own thoughts.  He wants to listen to himself.  He wants him to realize how wrong everything is.  He wants him to take a step back and _really_ look at things.  Sungjong can’t do that.  He’s too afraid.  “It means that we have to win.  I’m on the right side of this war Dongwoo, are you?”  Sungjong knows it sounds accusatory and rude.  He means for it too.

“I am.”  Dongwoo says firmly, “I don’t know if you are,”

Sungjong almost chokes.  It’s the very first time Dongwoo hasn’t only been solid about his opinion – but has bothered to try to change Sungjong’s.  “What good does it do the world if we’re the only people who can bend? Why are we doing this?” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.”  Sungjong mumbles and storms past Dongwoo. 

He hears him sigh in the background but pretends he didn’t.

He’s barely through the front door when Dongwoo’s mother is pushing him upstairs, “Oh good thing you’re here, you need to get packing right away.”  Sungjong looks at her and blinks. 

“You’re training in the military starts tomorrow, you need to be moved in by tonight.”


	8. seven

So, it ends up being Myungsoo that tells Howon and Sungyeol about their plan.

He tells them that they have nothing anymore.  He tells them they’re helpless and he tells them they plan on changing that.  He tells them that it was Woohyun who had the idea first and notices Sunggyu shift uncomfortably – he feels guilty about hurting Woohyun, Myungsoo knows it.

But there’s so much that Myungsoo doesn’t tell them.  He doesn’t tell them how it feels not to have a home anymore. That he misses his mother shaking him awake in the morning and his little brother crawling across his stomach and digging his heals into Myungsoo’s ribs until Myungsoo picks him up tosses him across the room.  That he misses watching Sunggyu sit for hours with his head lolling and eyes thick with sleep waiting for fish.  That he misses sneaking small bits of bending here and there, that even the smallest of streams he could create made his heart roar and adrenaline pump through his veins.  And that even though he can do a little more now – the little victory meant more to him.   

He doesn’t tell them how he hates Woohyun a little bit.  He doesn’t tell them he’s a mad that they trusted him and he betrayed them like this. He doesn’t tell them how he was so ready for this – so sure that Woohyun would help them through it.  He was so sure that one day he’d be able to bend oceans and rivers and he could go home with Sunggyu and they’d build houses next to each other; all three of them.   He wants to believe Woohyun has his reasons but he’s angry that he hasn’t told them.

 He doesn’t tell them he misses the captain and he never got to find out if he survived.  He doesn’t tell them he lost the boots Sunggyu’s mom gave him.  He doesn’t tell them he wants to try that fire nation candy again.  He doesn’t tell them that he really, really wants to cry.  He also doesn’t tell them that a part of him – a tiny part – wants to go home and forget all of this.

“That’s it,” Myungsoo says – only half of his story told and the want to go home swallowing his heart.  “We just need to find a way to get to the library.  It’s our only lead right now.”  He lets the silence swallow them.

Myungsoo counts the silence and follows the grain pattern on the wood with his fingernail.  He thinks about the racing water droplets and wonders if his would have won if he didn’t help it.  He closes his eyes and leans back against the wooden crates and feels tears prickling in his eyes and forcibly swallows the lump crawling up his throat.  The silence almost crushes his heart because of all the thoughts that swirl in his head.  He’s grateful when Howon breaks it, “You…” he clears his throat and gestures towards Sunggyu, “You said you hadn’t seen an air bender in years…that’s a little crazy.”

Myungsoo and Sunggyu exchange looks.  “We haven’t seen any kind of bending except for fire bending years ago since the laws were passed,”  Sunggyu watches Howon nod – stoic as always.  But Sungyeol’s face launches into an expression of pure horror.

“What laws?”  Sungyeol gasps.  “There can’t be any laws preventing benders, the fire nation isn’t _that_ cruel unless...”  Sungyeol almost smacks himself then.  “Wait fuck…I forgot you’re from the southern water tribe…”

Myungsoo lowers his gaze and rests his chin on his knees and ignores the hatred for Woohyun bubbling in his heart that grows little by little.  “I haven’t been able to bend since I was five.  It was outlawed.”

Sungyeol thinks back to the meeting he overheard with Hoya and swallows hard.  He looks deeply into the hollow look in Myungsoo’s eyes and he watches him dejectedly trace the pattern on the wood.  He watches Sunggyu – eyes closed and slumped over and Sungyeol thinks he can see a small trickle of tears.  Woohyun looks stoic and calm and Sungyeol doesn’t think he means much harm – but he can’t blame them for lashing out.  “I’m sorry.  I knew that bending was outlawed but I didn’t think…didn’t anyone visit you guys?”

“Anything or anyone that comes through us goes through the fire nation first,” Sunggyu spits it out roughly and his small eyes are hard and directed towards Woohyun.  “They’ve always monitored our every move, even when we tried to escape.” 

Woohyun looks up for a brief second and looks crushed.  He looks on the brink of tears – he really wanted Sunggyu to trust him.  Sunggyu averts his eyes and Woohyun’s lips quivers when he lowers his gaze back to the floor.  He presses his cheek against his knees and pulls them tighter against his chest.   “I really just wanted to help,” he whispers – barely audible and heartbroken.  Sunggyu ignores it.  Myungsoo does too.  

“So if it’s the library that you want to see, then you’re going to have to blend in,” Sungyeol clears his throat and watches Sunggyu’s ears perk up.  “And in order to do that, we need to move now.  There’s a secret tunnel my brother and I used to play in as kids, we can use it to get into the main part of the temple.”

“But what about after that?”  Howon starts, Myungsoo feels a little queasy noticing he has a small frown, “We can’t dive into this without a proper plan – where will they even go?”

“You’ll take the fire nat- er bender…” Sungyeol coughs awkwardly to cover it up, “You’ll take the fire bender.  Just keep him hidden,” Sungyeol jerks his head at Woohyun who gets to his feet and tosses Sungyeol a soft smile to show his gratitude.  “I can take these two and dress them up as air nation natives,” 

Howon glances at Woohyun – a little weary – with the hint of a frown pulling at his lips.  But he can’t say no, they’re all fighting for the same thing.  “Alright then,”

Sungyeol gently pries open the door and sticks his head out the threshold.  “So far there isn’t any sign of people, so I guess no one’s come to take the cargo yet. We still need to be quick though, I may be a prodigy but I can’t save everyone’s ass if we get caught,”

Howon pinches Sungyeol’s side and shoves him out the door and smiles triumphantly at the yelp Sungyeol lets out.  He snarls and tries to snap a kick to Howon’s ankle, but Howon dodges with ease and takes the lead with a whistle.  “You don’t even know where you’re going!” Sungyeol grumbles, speed-walking behind him.

Sunggyu shoves past Woohyun – hard enough that he trips.  He doesn’t fall – but Sunggyu wouldn’t have stopped even if he had.  Myungsoo is about to follow Sunggyu but tosses Woohyun a blank look first.  Woohyun looks up at him and sighs, “I have my reasons you know, I really do.” 

Myungsoo stares at him for a while and Woohyun stares back.  His look is determined and fiery, ironic in a way. He’s so passionate despite refusing to acknowledge being part of a nation driven passion.  Woohyun dusts the dirt off his pants and rubs away at the blood under his nose and looks straight into Myungsoo’s soul.  “I meant it when I said I want to help you, and I still mean it when I say I still do.”

He brushes past Myungsoo and trails behind Sunggyu; arms laced behind his back and eyes trained forward.  Myungsoo ends up taking the rear and watches everyone in front of him and feels a little okay about this.   He lets out a small puff of air that blow up his bangs and sighs.  He speeds up to fall into step with Woohyun, “I don’t know if I can forgive you,” he says and Woohyun doesn’t even spare him a glance, “But I think I can believe you,”

Myungsoo whispers to himself, “I hope you can tell us your reasons one day,”

The tunnel that Sungyeol leads them in is darker than Myungsoo would have hoped. It’s also damp and his bare feet sink into the dirt. He can feel it seeping in between his toes and it’s so muddy that he has a hard time lifting his feet.  He presses his hands up against the walls and follows the echo of Sungyeol’s voice, “It’s dark so stay close.”   The tunnel has a murky-like smell but it’s like a breath of fresh air to Myungsoo, it’s so moist that he feels as if he could bend the air in here. He listens to the squishing sounds of dirt under Sunggyu’s bare feet and Sungyeol starts to hum and it’s almost nice.   It almost feels homely.

“It’s going to take a long time, but once we get out of here, Sunggyu and Myungsoo you follow me and Woohyun stick by Hoya.  Don’t look anybody in the eyes and don’t talk to anyone.  Hoya will bring you to the library tonight at midnight, got it?”

A soft chorus of agreement echoes along the walls and a little bit of rubble falls from the ceiling into Myungsoo’s hair. 

But then they fall into silence and he enjoys the wet smell, the dirt in between his toes and fingers, and the cool air for as long as he possibly can before he has to start worrying about other things.  He pushes out everything and just breathes.

He can’t do that forever, but he can for now.

 

 

* * *

 

 

Myungsoo starts to cough violently and Sunggyu has to rub his back until he stops.  There’s a trickle of sweat slipping down his forehead and his hands are shaking.    He tries to stand but ends up collapsing back onto the bed and just stays that way, staring at the ceiling and listening to the sound of his chest rise and fall rapidly until his breathing calms down a little.  He still pants a little when he talks though, “I told you,” he has to pause to suck in a big breath of air, “I can’t do very much.  It’s…hard.”

Sungyeol runs his hand down his face and lets out a nasty-sounding groan.  He’s half-frustrated, half-intrigued by the fact that Myungsoo’s having so much trouble holding a steady stream of water long enough without it shaking or falling.  There’s already a growing puddle and Sungyeol resorted to rolling up his pants to his ankles.  “Give him a break,” Sunggyu shoots Sungyeol a glare and brushes the hair out of Myungsoo’s eyes.  “Not everyone is born a prodigy,” he snaps. 

 Sungyeol raises his arms as a form of surrender, “No need to get so snippy grandpa,” Sunggyu gives him a look that could kill and Sungyeol almost shudders.  “But how do you expect to get _anywhere_ with a boy who can barely bend?”

Sunggyu sighs, “He’ll learn.  He’s all we’ve got.”  He tries to adjust the sleeves on the clothes that Sungyeol gave him.  They’re a little long for him, falling past his fingertips if he doesn’t roll them up, but they’re also tight on his chest and really bring out the flub of his stomach.  He looks ridiculous really, with rolled up sleeves and pants.  It’s a pretty good indicator that Sunggyu doesn’t belong.   Myungsoo was lucky enough to fit perfectly in Sungyeol’s younger brother’s clothes.

 “And the fire bender,” Sungyeol reminds him but Sunggyu’s expression hardens.  

Sungyeol almost smacks himself for bringing it up, “Anyway, I’m gonna go check around to see if the coast is clear, then we can go to the library.” Sungyeol says before slipping out the door. 

Myungsoo barely waits for him to leave before he speaks up. “Hyung?”  Myungsoo scoots closer to Sunggyu and snuggles into his lap.  Sunggyu lets out a sigh and allows Myungsoo to bury his nose into his stomach.  He leans back against the headboard and counts the stars painted on the ceiling and digs his fingers into Myungsoo’s hair.  He waited for Myungsoo to continue; though he was already sure of what he was going to say.  “I think he really does mean well.”

 Sunggyu’s fingers stop for a moment and Myungsoo tilts up his chin to look him in the eyes.  He sees the slight hint of a frown but for the most part it looks like Sunggyu’s just thinking.   And then Sunggyu sighs, long and loud, “I know,” he whispers, “But this…” he searches for the right words but Sunggyu doesn’t think they exist, “This is too much. I can’t be….comfortable with this.  We ran away with the exact thing we were running away from.” 

“He doesn’t want to be affiliated with them,” Myungsoo reminds him with a poke to his cheek.  “That’s got to count for something, doesn’t it?”

Sunggyu pauses again before he speaks, “It doesn’t count for enough if he didn’t want to tell us about it,”

Sungyeol interrupts them with a cough and pokes his head through the door, “It’s now or never,” he says.

Myungsoo lifts himself off of Sunggyu’s lap and takes a deep breath.  Sunggyu lets him pull him to his feet and shakes off the feeling of dread and starts forward.  “Alright then, let’s go.”

The walk isn’t long – but it feels like it will never end.  Sunggyu hears the sound of his own footsteps bouncing the walls and grips hard at the edge of the robes Sungyeol lent him.   The hallway is covered in an orange glow lit by torches and he sees the shadows dance across the walls as they walk and it makes him feel queasy.    A while ago he was a well-behaved water nation boy that woke up every morning and did as he was told – now he was sneaking around the air nation and doing something that was bound to be classified as illegal.  

They meet up with Howon and Woohyun and the only form of greeting they exchange is a small nod – almost invisible in the lack of light.  Sunggyu meets Woohyun’s eyes for a split second but looks away quickly and focuses his attention on the beautifully crafted door in front of them.  It’s got the symbols of all four nations hand-carved into the wood so delicately that Sunggyu is afraid a single touch will ruin it.  And standing tall in the center, with a long gray beard and glowing black eyes, is the controller of them all.  “That’s the avatar,” Howon whispers, “I think it’s Avatar Roku.”

Sungyeol’s fingers glow a light gray, and in the dim torch light, Sunggyu can barely make out the strip of wind that he uses to unhitch the latch.  He slowly pushes the door apart (it separates the Avatar’s body into two and Sunggyu can only see his black eyes move farther and farther apart until they’re covered by the shadows) and takes the lead.  

They follow Sungyeol inside, but no one really speaks.  Nobody asks where to go, where to start, or anything.  They just wander and Sunggyu feels like he’s about to throw up.  “Where’s information about the war?  We should start there,” he decides while trying to calm his nerves, he needs to stay strong for Myungsoo. If Sunggyu breaks down – well he just can’t afford that.

Sungyeol stands in the middle of a couple of shelves and doesn’t say anything.  His hair flops over his eyes and he wrings his fingers together.  Sunggyu tries again, and it’s the very answer he dreaded, “I don’t think we have any,” Sungyeol says, voice a little quiet.  “I think…I think they’ve been confiscated.”

Howon gasps, and that makes Sungyeol’s stomach flop more, “What the hell?”  He snaps, “Why would they do that?  That’s keeping everyone in the dark!”  Howon knew that censorship in the air nation was huge – you couldn’t even watch a children’s puppet show without some kind of messed up patriotic message squeezed in the middle – but what good was this?  “Why would anyone censor the war?”

“I don’t know.”  Sungyeol almost chokes – but he does know.  He does.  But he pushes that thought out and pretends it’s not true.  He won’t think it.  He won’t believe it. 

“Hyung!” Woohyun’s head pops out from behind a bookshelf and there’s this triumphant glow in his eyes while he looks at Sunggyu. But then he swallows awkwardly – remembering they aren’t on the best of terms and speaks more formally, “I think me and Myungsoo found something useful,” Howon and Sungyeol exchange glances before the three of them follow Woohyun.

And there Myungsoo is, desperately trying to fiddle with a latch that looks similar to the one Sungyeol had opened earlier.  Sungyeol rolls his eyes and pushes him aside, ignoring the low growl Sunggyu sends in his direction.  “Leave this for the master,” 

Sungyeol rubs his hand together and smiles at the dim gray glow.  “Watch me work my magic,”

It doesn’t open.

“Good job, oh master.”  Howon rolls his eyes and Sungyeol growls.

He runs his fingers over the latch and is surprised to find not one, but four locks, and the one he just opened has re-sealed itself.   Sungyeol leans over to take a closer look and gasps hard, “It’s a four-way lock…one of the ones that need all four elements to be bended at the same time.”  He pauses, “well not that we can’t open one now, but I’ve never…”

“Actually seen one.”  Sunggyu finishes for him and steps up besides Sungyeol, “I’ve only ever seen fire nation locks….well all the water nation ones were destroyed.”  He slides his fingers over the design carved into the stone; the light is ridiculously dim, and he can’t see a thing.  But when his fingers brush over the water bender wave he knows it’s his mark.  He knows it’s the mark of his nation and a feeling of nostalgia washes over him.  It’s calming, it’s like he can feel the water flowing into his veins and he’s five years old again watching the water shows. It feels like home.  He hasn’t seen the mark in ages – just touching it makes his heart swell.  

“They’re supposed to be important though,” Myungsoo muses, “There has to be something behind here,”

“Ok you,” Howon gestures at Sunggyu, “Count to three, and on three we,” he gestures to the rest of them, “Well we’ll do our thing.” 

Sungyeol looks Myungsoo up and down and tosses him a water bottle. “Don’t fuck it up,” Myungsoo narrows his eyes and Sunggyu resists the urge to choke Sungyeol’s slimy little neck on the spot.  

“Don’t talk to him like that,” Woohyun stands tall and shoots Sungyeol an icy glare (even in the dark, he can feel it).  “He’s trying.”

Sunggyu cuts him off by clearing his throat, “One,” he wonders what it looks like to see a four-way lock opened before your eyes.  His grandpa used to tell him stories about the northern water tribe being filled with them.  “Two,” But does the northern water tribe even exist anymore? Do any water benders besides the handful where he’s from exist anymore? Sunggyu takes a deep breath and braces himself, “Three.”

At first, nothing happens, and Sungyeol lets out a frustrated growl and starts to whine, “Myung-“

But then, the lock glows.  And they’re all mesmerized. Sunggyu figured all he’d see would be a simple outline – its dark and Woohyun’s fire would be the only thing he’d be able to see.  But the four sections have their own beauty.  Sunggyu vaguely notices the other nations glow.   But the water nation stands out to him, so vibrant and blue.  The mark sparkles and he can almost hear the sound of an ocean swimming in his ears.  He has the urge to reach forward and touch it, it’s shimmering brightly and it’s so shiny he can see his own eyes reflected back at him. 

“It’s gorgeous,” Woohyun whispers, his voice is small but awed.  His eyes are huge and intensely focused on the fire nation symbol and Sunggyu notices the others are equally as focused – to their respective nations.  But Myungsoo, Myungsoo’s eyes are locked into the middle.   It’s a dull pinkish glow, where all the nations meet, and it shimmers brighter than the rest.  It’s duller but it shines brighter, Sunggyu thinks. 

The glow stops abruptly and the door clicks loudly before opening again.  This time, Sunggyu watches the water nation symbol until it’s engulfed by the shadows, and follows Woohyun inside. 

It’s very different compared to the rest of the library – the first thing they notice is the amount of books.  Woohyun runs his fingers along the dusty shelves, nearly empty, and has to rub the grime off on his (Howon’s) pants.  “It looks like no one’s been here in ages.”  He says.  The room is large and circular and his voice echoes along the walls.   Sungyeol lets out a small whistle and it still bounces back minutes after he did, almost eerily.   He tells Woohyun to light up the torches around the room, and it takes him a while, they’re so old and covered in damp mold that it’s almost impossible, but he manages to get a decent amount lit.  Enough for them to see, at least. 

“None of this is even useful,” Howon snorts, flipping through a random book he’d picked off the shelf.  “It’s a bunch of garb about air nation criminals,” he skims a few of them and snaps the book shut.  “You’re nation is really fucked up if someone went to jail because he spilled orange juice on some dude’s robe.”

Howon squeals and jumps when a gust of air flies into his ear.  Sunggyu ends up hissing at both of them and smacking Sungyeol on the head, “We can’t get caught!” 

“Wait, look here!”  Myungsoo calls out and Sunggyu smacks himself and prays that the air nation is full of people who are ridiculously heavy sleepers.  But he goes to Myungsoo nevertheless and looks over his shoulder to find a ridiculously tattered looking paper.  It’s crumbling at the edges and the ink is smudged in places.  It’s not even legible, even more so difficult in without the light, but they read what they can make out.  And it rests on top of a large spiral-bound book labeled _History of the Avatars._  

Woohyun takes the paper first and tries to decipher it.  “If….uh…you? If you are reading this…” he squints at the paper until Sungyeol snatches it from him and skims it to himself silently.   Woohyun whines and tries to snatch it back, but Sungyeol’s long done by the time he does.

“So we have to find an avatar.”  

They star at him blankly.  “What.”  Sunggyu says.

“Well, according to this thing, it’s from Avatar Yangchen, and she said ‘if there ever comes a time in which one nation demands to be the sole ruler of our land, the only force from which it may be stopped is locked within the avatar,’” Sungyeol gives it an olden voice and makes it sound scratchy and attempts to be funny – but that doesn’t change the weight of his words.  

“Do we even _have_ an avatar?”  Sunggyu whimpers.  “Do those even exist anymore?”

Myungsoo tosses open the cover of the book that he originally found the paper on and starts coughing.  A cloud of dust fills the air and he waves it off with his hand.  “Well, there’s a list in here,” he says tracing his finger over the lineage written in crisp black ink.  “It tells you the nation, name and life span,” Myungsoo flips through a few pages until he reaches the end of the list.  But the ink is smudged and Myungsoo can’t make out his name, but he can read the rest. “The last avatar was a part of the fire nation…and he died ten years ago.”

Myungsoo gently shuts the book and even though he closed it softly, the sound of rustling pages still echoes against the wall and he tugs on Sunggyu’s shirt.   The light from the torches is dimming slightly and when Myungsoo looks up he sees that Woohyun is expressionless – eyes downcast and fiddling with them hem of his new earth-bender clothes.  But he doesn’t look happy, or sad, or anything.  Myungsoo would look deeper, but he chooses to ignore it and turns to Sunggyu instead, “Hyung? What do we do?”

Sunggyu doesn’t get the opportunity to respond, Howon buts in first, “Sleep.” He says, “Sleep it off for a few hours and come back tomorrow afternoon. If we can manage to sneak in here – well it’s closed off for a reason and no one will find us.”  They all agree silently but Howon notes something’s off.

“Yo, Mr. Protégé, you’re unnaturally quiet,”

Sungyeol has a torn expression in his eyes when he looks at them that Howon is almost taken aback.  He’s never seen Sungyeol look so upset.  It’s Woohyun that answers that question though, in a small voice, filled with fear and dread.  And when he speaks, Howon feels his own stomach lurch – and he feels like he’s going to puke again for all the wrong reasons.  Myungsoo grabs a hold of Sunggyu’s already too-tight shirt and Sunggyu can’t find any words to say.

“Sungyeol, if this is the only way to defeat the fire nation – why is the air nation keeping it so well-guarded from everyone?”

Sungyeol sucks in a deep breath and talks in a hushed whisper, “I don’t know.”


	9. eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated twice so if you've been following this go check out ch. 7 first.

“You really outta be careful about some of the stuff you say,” Sungjong warns Dongwoo, hanging up his new set of uniforms and smiling at how fresh they look.  It makes him feel important.  He lays a particular crisp looking one out for him to wear today – they have to meet the troop general. 

“I’m not watching my tongue,” Dongwoo shoots back at him, laying on the mattress with one foot over the other and carelessly tossing an apple back in forth in the air.  “I’ve never watched what I’ve said and I’m not going to now,”

Sungjong lets out a sigh, nice and long, to make sure Dongwoo can hear the agitation in his voice.  Dongwoo laughs at him and Sungjong can’t help but crack up too.  He’s happy that he and Dongwoo managed to get a room together, even if Dongwoo can be a little stupid with his “against-the-war” ways, it’ll make this transition much more tolerable.  

Sungjong plops on the bed beside him and catches the apple in his mouth, and relishes the sound of Dongwoo’s displeasure when he takes a large bite out of it.  “Seriously though, you outta be careful or you’re going to end up getting attacked or something.”  Sungjong takes another large bite and enjoys the angered growl Dongwoo releases before he snatches it out of his hands.  “You can’t really talk shit about the fire nation…in front of the fire nation.”

“I am honored that you care,” Dongwoo resorts to eating the apple rather than throwing it back in the air for his measly game of catch, too.  “But I’m still not going to lie to anyone.  I’m going to be honest, Sungjong.  That’s all I can be right now.”

Sungjong listens to Dongwoo chew his apple and takes another bite himself when Dongwoo holds it in front of him.  But the weight of Dongwoo’s words sink so deep into his heart that the sweet apple turns sour.  Sungjong begins to wonder if mindlessly fighting this war is truly the only thing he can do.  But Sungjong pushes those thoughts out of his head and pushes himself out of Dongwoo’s bed.  “Anyway, get dressed, we outta go out and meet some of the other people while we wait for the general in charge of our squad to get here.”

Sungjong changes quickly and takes another bite of the apple while he waits for Dongwoo.  It’s still sour.  He wrinkles his nose and grabs the nearest water bottle and chugs half of it.  But Dongwoo ends up finishing up changing and Sungjong just shoves it in a holster in the belt of his uniform.  He’s pretty sure it’s where a gun’s supposed to go – just in case he were to ever need it.  But Sungjong thinks it makes a pretty good water bottle holder too.  He covers it up with the fabric so one can ever tell.  His father always told him to have water with him handy, you can never know when you’ll need water.

The first thing Sungjong sees when they step out of their room is this ugly looking boy with yellow-hair that looks like it was painted.  It can’t possibly be natural – it’s brighter than the sun and it makes Sungjong wanna throw up at the sight of it.  The boy laughs at something one of his friends says and he makes eye contact with Sungjong. 

And with Sungjong’s luck the boy tumbles over and holds out a hand and grumbles out a greeting that Sungjong can barely understand because his voice comes out deep and raspy and unintelligible.  He settles for shaking his hand, rather than asking for him to repeat himself. “I’m Sungjong.” 

The boy turns to Dongwoo who responds similarly and talks again.  “Are you excited?”

Sungjong goes to respond and stop Dongwoo before he says something stupid – but he’s a little late.  “Excited to kill a bunch of innocent people?  Not really.”

The boy raises an eyebrow and Sungjong kicks Dongwoo in the shin.  “He can be a little stupid at times, just ignore him,” Sungjong laughs but doesn’t like the way that the boy eyes Dongwoo and makes a mental note to keep Dongwoo away from him.   “Of course we’re excited, it’s every fire nation boy’s dream,”

Sungjong pretends that he didn’t see Dongwoo roll his eyes.  The yellow-haired boy smacks him on the back and Sungjong can feel the air knocked out his lungs, “I like your spirit!”  Sungjong coughs violently but manages to compose himself enough to give the boy a smile. “You’ll fit in around here well, rumor is that the general only favors boys who can listen well,”

Sungjong can only muster half a smile to yellow-hair.  Dongwoo full-on snorts.  Yellow-hair narrows his eyes at him and opens his mouth to speak but Sungjong pushes Dongwoo in line next to him. He knows what Dongwoo’s thinking, he’s been thinking the same thing recently.  But Sungjong doesn’t have the guts to say it and he’s afraid of what will happen to Dongwoo if he does.  _Of course he only likes boys who listen well – they’re the ones without a conscience._   

“You better watch what you say,” Yellow-hair grumbles, more directed to Dongwoo than to Sungjong.  “I heard that sometimes troops aren’t very forgiving to people that turn out to be traitors.”  Sungjong shudders at the thought.  

Before Dongwoo gets the chance to argue – they’re interrupted by the sound of a whistle and the presence of a man dressed in fire nation general garments and with the pointiest beard Sungjong’s ever seen.  He smiles and his teeth are crooked and yellow (it reminds Sungjong of the captives) and he has an evil look in his eyes. 

“Welcome, cadets.  I’d like to lay down the very first rule before we begin.”  The captain runs his fingers through his beard and Sungjong’s heart skips a beat before he even continues.  “I don’t stop fights between cadets, if anybody dies before we make it to war, it’s not my problem.”

Sungjong thinks this is going to be a long training period.

 

* * *

 

 

Sungjong collapses back on Dongwoo’s bed with a groan and the older boy laughs at him, “Come on, at least get water with me.”  Sungjong’s bones ache after the first day and he barely has the will power to stand.  He grunts and rolls over and he feels the water bottle he stuffed in his robes earlier still poking his sides – he’d forgotten about it. 

“I already have some – get it yourself.”  Dongwoo smacks his ass and Sungjong whines.  He vaguely thinks he should go with Dongwoo – with the small bit of fear that something could happen.  Something _would_ happen.  But Sungjong’s body aches and he can’t bring it in him to move so he lets his eyes flutter shut at the sound of Dongwoo swishing out of the tent.  If he isn’t back in five minutes, he’ll go check up on him.

While Sungjong lets the ache of his bones settle into his body, he lets his thoughts wander.  He flips over and stares at the ceiling.  He told Dongwoo he’d take the top bunk – but the springs are falling out and if Sungjong so much as kicks it the bed flies so high it almost hits the ceiling.  It’s a good thing Dongwoo’s a heavy sleeper.  But for the first time, Sungjong pushes out those meaningless thoughts and lets in the important ones.

The general made their motives clear, the cadets made their motives clear, but Sungjong deep down didn’t want to believe them.  He’d heard the same thing over and over since he’d step foot into this training camp _“Destroy everyone who is not the fire nation_.”  It’s what he’s always been told, it’s how the fire nation is.   But Sungjong really wants to know _why._  He has his reasons – his mother is gone.  His father still hasn’t come back, and his life is ruined because of the water nation.  But it never would have been if the war hadn’t started.  What are the _fire nation’s_ reasons?

These thoughts are dangerous – Sungjong knows that, but they’ve been creeping into his mind lately and he’s been having a hard time keeping them out.  Sungjong looks outside and it’s gotten dark, it was barely sunset when he first laid down. 

And Sungjong realizes Dongwoo still isn’t back yet.

A feeling of dread washes over him when Sungjong thinks back to yellow-hair and the things he said and Sungjong suddenly feels the very urgent need to go out and find Dongwoo.  He ignores the creak in his bones and the soreness that’s settled into his muscles when he stands up and leaves his tent.  Sungjong knows that Dongwoo went to find water, but his first reaction is to head towards a little flame he sees off in the distance.

The closer he gets, the more fear he feels.  And Sungjong is only going to make sure Dongwoo isn’t there – but in his heart he knows he will be.  In his heart he knows something is _wrong._

Sungjong feels his dinner crawl up his throat when he hears voices over by the fire and a pained moan that is unmistakably Dongwoo.  He slips behind a tree where he can’t be seen. His fingers shake and he’s starting to have trouble breathing.  He wants to turn back, go wait in his tent and pretend he never heard anything.  Dongwoo would crawl back on his own eventually and Sungjong could help him then, he could help him then but not now. 

He doesn’t turn back though, he just digs his fingers into the bark of the tree until he can feel splinters piercing under his nails and the bark pressing so hard into his skin he can already feel the impression it’ll leave. 

He gathers enough courage (cowardice?) to look behind the tree and forces himself to hold down a gasp; otherwise they’ll hear him.

He was right, though.  Right about Dongwoo getting into trouble.  Right when he thought that boy was bad news.  Right that that moan was Dongwoo.  Right when he desperately wants to be _wrong_.

Dongwoo’s arms are pulled behind his back and held down by a boy that Sungjong doesn’t recognize.  But the fire lights up his face in a way that makes him look like a devil and it makes his body shake.  Dongwoo’s panting and groaning and his hair is sticking to his forehead.  The boy pushes down hard on Dongwoo’s arms and Dongwoo releases a scream that makes Sungjong’s heart wrench and blood boil.  But most importantly it makes him afraid.

“Say that we’re right!”  the boy with the ugly, painted yellow hair stomps his foot on the ground.  “Say it!” 

Dongwoo doesn’t speak, Sungjong thinks his voice is too shaky for that, but he shakes his head.  Not in the direction he should have.  The boy with the yellow hair growls; it sounds so dangerous that Sungjong thinks he’s like a wild animal.  And his prey lay before him, trapped and helpless as he goes in for the kill.  He spits in Dongwoo’s hair and grabs it harshly and yanks Dongwoo’s head up.  Sungjong hears Dongwoo whimper and he really, really wants to cry.

He steps to his side and one of his friend’s picks up a branch laying close.  Sungjong’s hand tighten around the tree so hard that his knuckles go white and the splinters dig so deep into his skin that his fingers start bleeding.  He wants to cry out, to scream, to stop them, to do _something_.  But his mouth is dry and his voice is gone.  He can’t feel his legs and he feels frozen.  He feels like he’s drowning again – but this time it’s because of his own nation.

Sungjong can’t see the front of the boy’s head but he hears him grunt and swing the branch back.  He can see Dongwoo’s eyes widen and the horror that coats them.   He hears the hard _swish_ the air makes when the boy swings the branch back down and he hears Dongwoo _scream_.  Sungjong rips his hands off the tree and clamps down on his ears and squeezes his eyes shut tight but Dongwoo won’t stop.  He’s screaming and crying and Sungjong hears him cough and gurgle.  He presses his hands harder against his ears and tries to drown out the sounds with the sound of his own heart slamming against his ribs, he tries to listen to his own blood rushing.  But he can hear Dongwoo crying clearer than he can hear his own thoughts, he can hear Dongwoo coughing and panting so clear that he forces his eyes open and almost screams.

He doesn’t scream, though.  Sungjong knows better than to scream. 

Blood is streaming down Dongwoo’s nose and his eyes are hooded.  His chest is heaving and Sungjong can almost hear his heart beat from behind the tree.  He can almost make out the sound of it pounding against his bones and screaming for help.  Screaming for Dongwoo’s body to stop.  The blood flows from his nose and his lips and there’s already a little pool that mixes with the dirt so it’s a weird shade of red-brown.  It shines in the light of the fire and it’s scary how it almost sparkles.  Dongwoo starts coughing violently and he heaves so blood pools out of his mouth and the boys around him laugh.  Dongwoo just threw up blood – and if Sungjong looks closely, he can see a few teeth.

They cackle and cheer and the yellow-haired boy yanks Dongwoo up by his hair again.  He pushes his face so close to Dongwoo’s that their noses touch and their lips are a few centimeters apart.  Sungjong would think it would be some weird form of intimacy – but it’s not.  It’s anything but.  “Say the fucking fire nation is right.”

Dongwoo looks the boy straight in the eyes and the strength in his eyes makes Sungjong shudder. Dongwoo looks him straight in the eye and spits blood on the boy’s mouth.  _“No.”_  Dongwoo’s voice cracks, and Sungjong can see that his lips quiver.  But his gaze is strong, his eyes are strong, and that’s all the strength their needs to be.

The boy pushes him off and frantically wipes the blood off his face and growls, “You’re going to regret this your traitor,”  

The boy that holds down Dongwoo’s arm tightens his grip so Dongwoo gasps at the pressure and the yellow-haired boy’s fingers glow a bright orange and Sungjong’s knees start to shake.  The boy smiles so wide it stretches from ear to ear and his eyes crinkle up like little crescents and it’s cute.  But he is not. 

His fingers glow and Dongwoo’s hair lights on fire. 

Dongwoo starts to scream and thrash and tries to push the boy off of him and break free of his grip.  His breathing is messed up – Sungjong can tell – and he can’t bend.  Sungjong can’t bend either, his heart is screaming and his mind is starting to go hazy because he can’t really remember to breathe either.  Dongwoo cries and his hair is burning to bits and the smell fills the air.   Dongwoo’s tears mix with the blood by his feet and they shine much brighter in the light of the fire. 

The need to do _something_ clouds over Sungjong’s mind but he can’t.  He’s afraid of what will happen to him.  He can’t help Dongwoo.  He can’t do anything.  They’ll come for him.  He’ll be next.  Sungjong is afraid.  _He’s afraid._   Dongwoo screams louder and louder and no one comes out, the boys cackle loud and it clouds over Sungjong’s thought and so many things are piling into his head he’s getting a migraine.  Burnt hair is replaced with the smell of burnt flesh and Sungjong collapses to the ground and makes a loud rustling sound in the grass.

 The cackling pauses abruptly and the yellow-haired boy doesn’t even spare a look in his direction before he shouts “Run!” and takes off. His friends aren’t that far behind.

Sungjong stumbles out of the grass, knees still wobbly, and uncaps the water bottle attached to his side and pours it on Dongwoo’s head, he falls to his knees and cradles Dongwoo’s head in his arms.  There’s dark singe marks, but the fire was too weak by the time it reached his scalp to actually break skin – and Sungjong was quick to react, fortunately. 

It may not have damaged his brain physically, at least. 

But Dongwoo starts crying and choking on his own tears. “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.”  Dongwoo buries his head into Sungjong’s brand new, crisp and clean uniform, and stains it with his blood.  He grips the sides of the uniform so tight that Sungjong can feel it cutting into his skin and keeps chanting between sobs.  “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.” 

“H-Hyung!”  Sungjong ignores the prickly feeling climbing up his throat.  “Yes you can! You’re gonna be okay, alright?” Sungjong tries to sound encouraging, he tries to sound meaningful.  But he _can’t_.  Sungjong wants Dongwoo for _him._ Sungjong can’t do this.  Sungjong can’t do this alone. 

_“I can’t.”_ Dongwoo starts to wale and thrash in Sungjong’s arms and Sungjong tries to hold him down.  He can’t do much else but tighten his grip on Dongwoo and keep him from waking up the camp.  Dongwoo sobs and hiccups loudly and slams his fists to the ground between fits and the words are stuck on repeat.  “I can’t do this. I can’t do this.”  Sungjong vaguely remembers learning from his father that pain and fear can make a person go insane. 

Sungjong doesn’t believe that anymore.  Holding a crying Dongwoo in his lap, Sungjong thinks pain and fear do quite the opposite.  _“I can’t. I can’t.”_

Sungjong focuses on the splinters swelling under his nails and he thinks about the bark impressions on his hand and forces out all other thoughts and holds Dongwoo as tight against his chest as he possibly can. 

“You have to Hyung, you have to.” 

_“I can’t. I can’t.”_

“Hyung you have to, if you can’t… _neither can I.”_  


	10. nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for all the updates this week, but it's break and there's actually a goal I want to get to with this before break ends

“Come on you can do better than that!”  Myungsoo moans loud and clear, voice filled with pain and Sungyeol laughs at him.  He hates everything to do with this stupid air nation boy and his brilliant idea of taking him to his “secret training place.”  Myungsoo wants to curl up into a ball and take a long nap but Sungyeol is already yanking him up.  “How do you expect to do anything if you can’t even bend?”

Myungsoo pulls out of his grasp and snarls, “I _can_ bend.”

“Not very good,” Sungyeol rolls his eyes and if Myungsoo wasn’t so weak, he would kick him right off the damn temple with rocks weighing down his shoes and mercilessly watch him drown and scream for help.  And of course he couldn’t save him, because, in the words of the air nation asshole himself, he couldn’t even bend.  Just the thought of it all makes him smile. 

“Why don’t you stop being such a dick?”  Howon tosses Myungsoo a bottle of clean water, which he gulps in a matter of seconds, “They already told you he hasn’t been able to bend for over ten years, he’s not gonna master it in a day.”

“But he could at least _improve_!” Sungyeol whines and Howon kicks him for Myungsoo (who silently decides he likes Howon best right after Sunggyu).  He tosses Myungsoo a smile and tells him to rest for ten minutes while he teaches Sungyeol a lesson.  Myungsoo doesn’t miss the chance to take a quick nap.

Meanwhile, Sunggyu sits under the shade of an old looking tree and bites into an apple and watches Howon and Sungyeol squabble.  He has a fond smile while watching Myungsoo’s rapid breathing slow down until Sunggyu’s sure he’s asleep.  He takes another bite of the apple and decides he wouldn’t mind a nap either.  But that thought doesn’t last long, “I still want to help you, you know.”

Sunggyu looks up and sees Woohyun carefully sit beside him, twiddling his thumbs in his lap and watching Howon nearly wrap a root around Sungyeol’s neck.  “I really don’t like this war,”

Sunggyu debates for quite a while on whether he should answer or not.  He hasn’t forgiven Woohyun – he really can’t.  But this childish game of not talking to him and being a jerk isn’t doing much for either of them.  Sunggyu doesn’t _want_ to hate Woohyun, but it just…hurts.  It hurts that he didn’t tell them.  But Sunggyu supposes he can’t expect anyone to trust him so quickly, even after they spent a few weeks cooped up together in the dingy cargo load of a fire nation ship.  Sunggyu swallows his anger, and settles on a simple, “I’m sorry for assuming you did.”

“I’m sorry too.”  Woohyun says and this time he has the courage to look straight into Sunggyu’s eyes.  And Sunggyu can see it.  He can see the apology in his eyes and he can see that Woohyun really, really means it.  “I’m sorry but I just…I really can’t tell you anything right now.  But I’m on your side.  Just please forgive me.”

“I can’t do that.”  Sunggyu says sternly, and it’s hard for him to ignore the puppy dog eyes that droop along with Woohyun’s ears.  Sunggyu can barely hear him mumble an ‘I understand’ before he speaks again.  “I can’t do that now….maybe not ever, honestly. But I know that I can believe you on this.”  Woohyun’s ears don’t perk up as high as Sunggyu expected them too, but he does give him a soft smile. “I’ll trust that you have your reasons for this, but it’s gonna take some time before I can trust you entirely.” Sunggyu hesitates for a moment, “And it isn’t helpful that you won’t tell us why you lied.”

Woohyun shakes his head, as firm as Sunggyu was in denying his apology. “I didn’t lie.” Sunggyu gives him a pointed look and Woohyun sighs, “I was denounced…from the fire nation.  I did it myself actually.”

Sunggyu has the decency to keep from gaping, especially because it wasn’t a common thing, and definitely not a good thing. “You denounced yourself from your nation?”  

“Please don’t ask why.” Woohyun mumbles, he starts to pick at the grass and wrap it around his fingers. “I really don’t want to explain that.”

Sunggyu takes a deep breath, “Fair enough. So then I guess technically you weren’t even lying.”  Sunggyu picks up his apple and holds it out by his mouth for a second, but then he sighs and holds it out to Woohyun instead, the latter happily breaks off a large chunk with his teeth and chews it as if he’s cherishing every second of it.

“So…friends?” Woohyun asks shyly, with tainted red cheeks and his fingers twiddling in his lap. 

“I…don’t think that’s the best word for it, but I can’t think of a better one so okay,” Sunggyu says and Woohyun’s smile dims a little, but it’s still intact.  For now, that’s a start.  “Oh and eh…sorry for beating you up.”

Woohyun giggles, “I didn’t even feel it; you punch like a girl Hyung!” 

“What do you mean you little shit?”  Sunggyu growls, Woohyun quickly jumps to his feet and barks out a laugh.  Sunggyu scrambles to his feet to and tries to pounce on him but Woohyun just ends up protecting himself behind Myungsoo – and Sunggyu smiles at the smile Myungsoo gives him.  He smiles at the smile Woohyun gives him too and everyone just has a big smile.  Even Sungyeol and Howon are giggling in between their bursts of bending and Sunggyu likes this.  He really, really likes this.

It makes him think of things he’d heard about. How before the war there were friendships among all types of people.  It makes him think how before the war people said it wasn’t uncommon to see villages packed full of all different types of benders.  It makes him wonder if that kind of stuff still exists.  He wonders what it was like to live in a village like that.  He wonders what they said when they were asked what nation they’d come from.  He wonder if they had pretty shows with all elements blended together.  He wonders if it was just as colorful.  And all this wondering makes him smile too.  It makes him laugh.  And it makes him really hope for the day that the war will end.   

Sungyeol takes a look at the sun and smiles after shoving Howon to the ground, “It’s around lunchtime; we outta head back to the library now while everyone’s busy trying to get food.  This is primetime not to get noticed and to have a good amount of light. “

 

* * *

 

 

They end up crowded around the same book as before – that tattered letter is neatly packed into the pocket of Myungsoo’s air-bender robes.  The page with the last avatar’s name was torn out with jagged edges and is now pressed so tight against Sunggyu’s thigh he can almost feel it through the clothes. But he likes it this way, it makes him feel much safer knowing that it’s there, that they have _some_ lead.

“I already knew that,” Sungyeol rolls his eyes at the latest line Myungsoo had read aloud and the water bender is slowly starting to hate this guy.  “We learned that in school ages ago, the avatar goes in a sequence, I already knew the next avatar had to be from the air nation, it’s how the sequence goes. Water, earth, fire and air.”

“Well we didn’t,” Sunggyu growls.  “No need to shove it in everyone’s face,” He hasn’t take quite the liking to Sungyeol either, the only one that seems alright with him is Woohyun.  

Myungsoo just continues to read as though Sungyeol hadn’t even spoken, “It also says that if we take a visit to the temple of Ba Sing Sae, we might be able to talk to someone who can tell us who the next avatar is, a name and everything.”  Myungsoo looks up hopefully.  Sunggyu gestures with his hand and Myungsoo rips out the paper – the edges are neater this time, and hands it to Woohyun to shove in his pocket. 

Howon makes a small sound of recognition, “I know that place; it’s in the earth nation!” Myungsoo’s ears perk up, “I mean, it’s very famous, but no one really goes there,” He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, “To be quite frank most of the earth nation thinks the lady that runs it is a crazy old hag that doesn’t know shit.”  He chuckles but Myungsoo doesn’t seem to be listening.

“You can take us there, can’t you?”  His eyes are big and child-like and Howon really can’t say no to that.  The kid’s too cute – like a cat kind of. 

“Wait a second,” Sunggyu pushes Myungsoo aside and ignores the little pout and grunt Myungsoo gives him. “ _Is_ shea crazy old hag?  There’s no point for us to be running crazy all around different nations if we don’t know for sure,”

“We didn’t know for sure we’d make it here,” Woohyun points out and Sunggyu purses his lips a little, but tries to be more civil – he may have forgave him, but he still doesn’t trust him.  “Besides, what other lead do we have to go on?”

“You can’t stay here either,” Sungyeol reminds him; a little sternly. “Once Hoya leaves people would find you, and it would only end badly for everyone.” 

“I don’t know if she’s _really_ crazy, I’ve never seen her before.”  Howon shrugs his shoulders and feels a little bit apologetic at the deep sigh Sunggyu lets out.  He rubs his temples and crouches down and Howon is sure the poor guy is getting a headache – he would be to and he’s very thankful that he’s only a helping hand right now.  Howon doesn’t know if he could handle doing something so crazy.

“But the lineage shows that the next avatar should be an air bender,” Sunggyu counters, “What if he or she is here somewhere? It would be pointless to go all the way to Ba Sing Sae and come back.” 

“They could be in one of the other air temples, it doesn’t necessarily have to be this one,” Woohyun reminds him and Sunggyu lets out a frustrated groan at the thought.

Sungyeol’s gaze falls to his shoes for a moment – their the same ones Hoya threw up on – and even though he was mad then, he’s almost fond of the memory now.  He sighs, “You can’t go to the other air temples.” 

Howon gives him a sympathetic look.  “Why not?”  Myungsoo demands, voice a little angered.  “We will if we have to.”

“They’ve agreed to be on the side of the fire nation, if the avatar is there, it’s going to be a hell of a lot of trouble.” Sungyeol mutters.  Sunggyu kicks the nearest bookshelf out of sheer frustration and ignores the throbbing pain it gives his toe. 

“What do you mean?”  Woohyun’s voice comes out as if he’s about to cry.  The only time he’s sounded so distressed was when Sunggyu had attacked him when they first found them and Sungyeol feels guilt in the pit of his stomach. “But I thought the air nation was against the war!”

“We are!” Sungyeol slams his fists on the book and Myungsoo growls at him.  “Well…my temple is.” Sungyeol pauses, “Well, _I_ am.” 

“That’s one air bender of…millions.”  Myungsoo deadpans, “That’s not nearly enough to consider the entire nation on board.” 

“My temple won’t agree!” Sungyeol snaps and crosses his arms, but Myungsoo can tell he hit a nerve by the nervousness in Sungyeol’s eyes, and that isn’t very comforting to him.  “All I’m saying is that you better pray you don’t end up at those other temples.”

“Great, so now what? That’s a twenty-five percent chance we get the good one, and that’s an awfully low number,” Sunggyu snarls and doesn’t miss the opportunity to give Woohyun a nasty glare.  Good terms or not, Sunggyu is still pretty pissed about this. “We were better off staying home.”

Woohyun opens his mouth to argue, but Howon cuts him off, “You don’t need to blame him for everything you know.”  Sunggyu narrows his eyes but Howon clears his throat and quickly interjects before he has the chance to speak, “And I don’t know how much it will be of benefit to you, but the earth nation is huge.”  He has a small smile, “You may not be able to stick around here, like Sungyeol said, and I know it isn’t world-changing like you wanted…but if worse comes to worse as long as you have the right clothes you could pass off as earth nation natives. You can’t have the most leisure of lives though…”

This time Woohyun snorts, “Becoming beggars on the streets isn’t exactly a very appealing backup plan,”

“No, but it’s all we have,” Myungsoo cuts in, ignoring the flabbergasted looks he gets from both Sunggyu and Woohyun.  “It’s not like we have anything better to do, so we’re in.  Ignore them.”  Howon thinks that the cat-boy really can take charge when he needs to – despite his innocence.  Howon likes that about him, he hopes that whatever happens to him, he’ll at least see him a few more times.  He hopes the same for Sunggyu and Woohyun too.   Maybe even Sungyeol.

“It’s a shame you’ll have to be leaving so soon,” Sungyeol lets out a sigh that sounds hurt, “I could’ve shown you so much more of my amazing talents.” 

Myungsoo and Sunggyu actually groan while Howon decides he’s better off never having to cross paths with Sungyeol ever again.  Woohyun just laughs and Sungyeol growls at the disgusted face Howon wears.  “You all don’t know what you’re missing.”

“Anyways,” Howon kicks Sungyeol in the shin and relishes his screech of pain before continuing, “I can get you as far as the earth nation and point you in the right direction, but that’s as far as I can go.”  He notes Woohyun’s face fall a little and feels a little apologetic.  “I can tell you where I live if you want to stop by sometime after…but I can’t go with you.”

“That’s understandable,” Sunggyu says, Howon thinks it’s funny how Sunggyu is so against everything.  But he’s usually the one that’s making the most compromise.  He thinks he likes that about him as much as he likes Myungsoo’s innocence.  “We couldn’t ask you to do that anyway, taking us as far as the temple is more than enough.”

“Alright so then we’ve got the plan down, eh?”  Sungyeol whistles.  “You’re going to Ba Sing Sae to find the avatar!”  He laughs and throws an arm on Myungsoo’s shoulder (he shoves it off with a snarl and gives Sungyeol a disgusted look – Sungyeol chooses to ignore it).  “You guys better become famous or something, one day when this war is over, I’m gonna brag to my grandkids that I knew you guys.”

“Bragging about being the air nation prodigy isn’t enough for you?”  Howon ducks just in time to miss being hit by a blast of air.   He gives Myungsoo a high five when he comes back and can’t help but chuckle at Sungyeol’s pink cheeks.

“Has anyone ever told you you’re an asshole?”

“Besides you?” Sungyeol gets him this time, but even with his hair blown in all directions Howon manages to snicker and give Myungsoo a high five. 

“Anyway,” Sungyeol huffs, crossing his arms over his chest.  “Keep your heads down and go back to my room.”  He gives Myungsoo a pointed look.  Myungsoo has a hard time resisting the urge to shove water up Sungyeol’s nostrils.  “I have some business to take care of,”

Howon turns to Woohyun, “You can manage the same right? I want to go find my dad.”  Woohyun gives him a whistle and a salute. 

Sungyeol is the first to leave and he shakes all these messy thoughts out of his head.  He never thought he’d end up getting caught up in something so big.  But it makes him happy.  He feels like he’s actually doing _something_.  A part of him hopes that the avatar is around here somewhere, in his temple, and he hopes to see them again.  He hopes that one day in the future they’ll all end up good friends.  That they’ll be war heroes that speak highly of him.  Sungyeol hopes one day _he’ll_ be a war hero spoken highly of. 

He’s torn from his thoughts when something crashes into him – headfirst and _hard_.  Sungyeol grunts when he falls to the ground and is just about ready to scream at the perpetrator but squeaks instead, “Daeyeol?”

His eyes are big and he looks like a frightened animal. He manages to scramble to his feet but is very messy about it.  It takes him a lot of tripping (and a lot of accidentally stepping all over Sungyeol) to get to his feet.  He’s just about to scamper off again but Sungyeol grabs him by the shoulders before he gets the chance to.  Something is wrong.  “What’s going on?” 

“That earth nation boy, we have to warn him!” Sungyeol knows something is horribly wrong the second Daeyeol’s voice comes out squeaky and frightened. Sungyeol notices that his forehead is coated with sweat and his arms are practically shaking and Daeyeol look like he’s about to cry.  “Sungyeol _please_ , I have to find him!”

“But why?”  Sungyeol reluctantly lets him go and runs alongside him – which proves to be rather difficult, Daeyeol is sprinting and wheezing but he won’t slow down.  Sungyeol has never seen his brother so worked about something.  “Daeyeol what is going on?”

“They accepted it.”  Daeyeol chokes out, he’s panting and his lips start to quiver and fat tears slide down his cheeks but Daeyeol keeps running.  “The generals accepted the fire nation decree,” 

Sungyeol stops in his tracks and Daeyeol digs his nails into his arms so deep it makes him yelp and starts to drag him along.  “That’s not the worst part…they had a condition.” 

Sungyeol’s stomach drops and suddenly he’s out of Daeyeol’s grip and is running just as fast – if not faster to find Hoya.  He knows, he _knows_ what it is.  He knows there could be only one thing the fire nation would want from them.  “What is it?”  He asks anyway, a tiny glimmer of hope is still there, clinging to his heart just barely, praying that it isn’t true.

_“Kill all earth nation people present.”_

That hope dies.

Sungyeol runs.


	11. ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a pretty boring chapter tbh. but next chapter is gonna be super exciting im getting giddy just thinking about it

Sungjong hears Dongwoo unfolding the old paper, it’s been folded and unfolded so often that it looks like it’s about to fall apart.  The ink is also smudged in places and a there are traces of tears.  Dongwoo reads over the letter as if he’s hanging onto every last word.  Sungjong wonders if he ever skims it – but he doesn’t think so.  It was from his mother, she told him to look at it whenever it got hard.  Sungjong has one too, but he still hasn’t opened it yet.  It doesn’t feel right for him, it’s not his mother after all.  Dongwoo touches the top of his head and winces, it’s a little burned still.  “You feeling any better?”  Sungjong dips his head over the bed to ask.

“It’s kind of hard to get over your head almost being burned off,” Dongwoo snorts.  Sungjong sighs, he feels horribly guilty – he should’ve stopped it, but he couldn’t have.  “I really hate this.”

Sungjong purses his lips into a frown. “You know, that’s the kind of talk that got you into this, you brought it upon yourself.”

Dongwoo narrows his eyes and looks up at Sungjong with an expression so nasty he almost falls off the bunk.  He’s never seen Dongwoo look so angry, and it hurts that it’s directed at him.  “Are you saying that this is _my_ fault?”

Sungjong’s eyes widen, a little stunned and his mouth falls open.  Dongwoo scrunches his eyebrows together and glares.  Sungjong feels like he’s a little kid shrinking in the presence of an adult and hunts for the right words to say.  Except he doesn’t think there are any.  There’s two different ways this could go, and either way it goes, it’ll make Sungjong a horrible person. “Well not….entirely,”

“But partly,” Dongwoo finishes for him, eyes still strong and voice still hard. “Sharing my opinion is partly my fault.  Thanks Sungjong.”

“You know what I mean,” Sungjong says pointedly, “It’s…not your fault but it is.”  He has trouble finding the words to say. “You can’t just…this is the _fire_ nation, you’ve lived here your whole life and you know you can’t do that kind of stuff here.”

“Right,” Dongwoo rolls his eyes and Sungjong can’t stand looking at all his anger anymore so he swings his head back and lays on his back and counts the cracks in the ceiling. “I outta just become a mindless follower then, like you, right?”

Sungjong feels guilt growing in his stomach and has the strong need to lash out.  He feels the urge to defend himself and punch Dongwoo in the jaw because they’re _friends._ Friends don’t accuse each other of shit like that.  But it’s true.  Sungjong closes his eyes and ignores the pounding in his head. “You’ve really changed over the course of one night, I don’t know if I like it.”

Dongwoo snorts from beneath him, “I didn’t ask for your permission.”

“I didn’t mean it that way,” Sungjong mumbles.

“Well I don’t quite understand what you mean at all Sungjong, what do I mean to you? What does any of this mean to you?”  Sungjong opens his mouth to speak but Dongwoo keeps rambling and his voice rises more and more and Sungjong can hear his voice crack and Sungjong can’t see him – but he knows his lip is quivering.  “It’s one thing to agree with this – it’s one thing to be afraid of the fire nation.  But it’s an entirely different story to watch your friend get beat up in front of your face. I almost died and you didn’t even stop them!” Dongwoo chokes out.

“I…”  Sungjong swallows hard and he can feel a lump forming in his throat.  “It’s not like I didn’t want to…”

“Then why didn’t you?” He can hear the venom in Dongwoo’s voice and this new side of Dongwoo scares him a little.  “Sungjong, pick a freaking side on this damn war.”

“You know what side I’m on!” Sungjong squeaks and slams his fists against the mattress so it bounces and a few of the springs fall onto Dongwoo’s side.  “You know very well what side I’m on.”

“But do you _want_ to be?”

“I have to be!”

Dongwoo lets out a frustrated growl, “No you don’t! Why can’t you see that?”

“Because there isn’t anything to see!” Sungjong spits and ignores the tears forming in his eyes and ignores the thoughts of the captives back home and ignores the stories his father told him about the old fire nation and just ignores.  _Pretend pretend pretend._  “The fire nation is right, it’s always been this way and you can’t change that so it has to be right!”

“That’s complete bullshit and you know it!”

“I don’t care!” Sungjong snarls he dips his head back over the side and ignores the swollen splinters in his fingers that have become irritated because he was gripping the side of the bed so hard.  “I’m not like you, I don’t give a shit about what any of the other nations have to say about this.  I’m in the fire nation so I’m right.  I have to be.”

Dongwoo has a disgusted smile on his face and his head has swollen burn marks but Sungjong thinks it’s the smile that looks so gross and he wants to spit on his face.  And then his heart yells at him because this is _Dongwoo._ He’s mad at Dongwoo and that makes Sungjong’s head spin.  “Why are you suddenly trying to change my mind?  You’ve never done that before – you’ve never tried to change anyone’s mind before.  You don’t care about this kind of stuff.”

“It’s because I have a chance with you. It’s because I care about _you_ ,”  Dongwoo’s voice falls back to normal and he falls back against his mattress and closes his eyes and Sungjong watches his chest rise and fall in tune with his breathing and waits for him to continue.  “You know that this is wrong, I know you do.”

“You know wrong,” Sungjong scoffs, “You clearly don’t know me at all if that’s what you think.”

“I don’t think anyone knows you as well as I do,” Dongwoo reminds him, “We’ve lived together our whole lives,”

“Yea so you should know by now that I’m not changing my opinion.  I can’t do that.  It’s not right.”  Sungjong slides down the ladder and decides to take a trip to the mess hall to get dinner.  There’s supposed to be an announcement tonight anyways and that’s not something he can afford to miss.

“Or are you just afraid?”  Sungjong’s halfway to the door and freezes in his tracks.  His hand is halfway to the door knob and his heart is pounding against his chest.  He feels like he’s drowning again because somebody _knows_.  Because he didn’t do such a great job about hiding how afraid he was and that’s not the mark of the fire nation.  Fear is to be hidden.  Sungjong can’t be afraid but Dongwoo saw right through him and that terrifies him.  Who else can see his fear? 

“Let’s not talk about this.”  He mumbles instead.  “Let’s go eat.”

Dongwoo sighs loudly and throws an arm around his shoulder as if they didn’t spend the last twenty minutes yelling at each other.  “Whatever you say, kid.”

Sungjong shoves his hands in the pockets of his uniform and he feels the empty water bottle from the night before knocking against his elbow and feels a surge of guilt.  “I’m sorry…” he whispers dejectedly, with his gaze kept to his shoes.  Dongwoo doesn’t say anything and Sungjong is thankful for that, he just takes his arm off his shoulders and continues to walk by his side.  He think there once would have been a time in which Dongwoo would have whistled the way, he would have sung a song or danced because that’s Dongwoo.  But then again, when you’re brutally attacked in the dead of night you tend not to be the happiest of people the very next day.  Sungjong hopes that happy Dongwoo will come back again one day, it’s gonna be hard if he doesn’t. 

He pushes the doors to the mess hall open and shudders at the sight.  There’s at least hundreds of soldiers shoveling food into their mouths without a care in the world.  Half of it doesn’t even end up in their mouths – the floor shows that very clearly.  The tables also don’t look very stable, they’re tilted in all sorts of directions and make it nearly impossible to even set a plate on them without it falling it off.  All in all it makes Sungjong wonder that if Dongwoo’s father donated his house for the military – just what good did it do?

Sungjong doesn’t even get the opportunity to get food before he loses his appetite.  “Well hello, how’ve you been?” Yellow-hair throws an arm around his shoulder where Dongwoo’s once was and Sungjong notices Dongwoo visibly tense out of the corner of his eye.  “Want to join us for lunch?” 

“Err…no thank you,” Sungjong’s heart pounds just seeing the boy frown slightly. “We were just going to go back to our room and eat there,” he doesn’t look at Dongwoo for approval, but he doesn’t think he needs it. 

“Well you best stick around for a little while longer,” the boy casts a side-eye at Dongwoo and Sungjong feels the growing urge to duck away from his hold and run back to his room before things get out of hand.  Out of sheer fear that he’ll be too afraid to do anything if things get out of hand and Dongwoo will be broken forever.  “You outta hear what the general has to say before you go, I heard it’s about our first battle,” Yellow-hair smiles so big Sungjong can tell that his hair isn’t the only yellow thing about him.  He holds in a frown of disgust.

“We’re going in so soon?  Is that really a good idea…we didn’t even train except for yesterday,” Sungjong mumbles.

Yellow-hair laughs in his face and Sungjong decides he really dislikes this guy (then again, he decided that the second he touched Dongwoo…he just couldn’t do much about it). “Did you think people actually train here? We just get shipped of as soon as we can, our people keep dying up against the earth nation.”

“What do you mean people don’t train here?” Dongwoo butts in and Sungjong almost wants to beg him to keep his mouth shut because this is not the time or place to speak.  He feels stick to his stomach at the shit-eating grin yellow-hair wears. “That’s no use at all, what good are a bunch of kids that don’t even know war?” Dongwoo says it proudly and narrows his eyes and for some reason – Sungjong feels a burst of pride too.  

“What’s there to learn? Just burn everyone up,” Yellow-hair laughs and pats Sungjong on the back.  Sungjong doesn’t laugh though.  Neither does Dongwoo.  Yellow-hair rolls his eyes, “We’re not going to the earth nation anyway; they wouldn’t send us out there so early.”

Sungjong doesn’t get the chance to ask just where they are going because a large gong sound resonates in the hall and still rings in his ears minutes after.  The general with the pointy beard and yellow teeth has his hands woven behind his back and has a small, thin smile on his lips.  “Tomorrow, we depart.” He says plainly. A murmur of whispers bounces around the crowd until he bangs the gong again and Sungjong thinks he’s seriously gonna get a headache from that thing one of these days.  Judging on how Dongwoo rubs his ears – he agrees. 

“We will ambush the earth nation located at the western air temple, our goal is to aid them in killing every last soldier possible.”

Sungjong hears someone call out, “But how will we know who’s part of air nation and who’s part of the earth nation?”

 The thin smile the general wears spreads, “Well, that’s quite simple, you see.  You could look at uniforms, but what’s the fun in that?”

Sungjong feels his stomach drop when the captain barks out a laugh. 

“Just kill them all, and the problem is solved.”


	12. eleven

“So you like that air nation boy, eh?”

Howon’s father ruffles his hair and laughs.  Hearing his laughter makes Howon’s eyes crinkle up into a smile, “I said he was _okay_ ,”  Howon reiterates, “That doesn’t necessarily mean I like him, you know.” He huffs and crosses his arms over his chest and even sports a fake pout, but that only makes Howon’s father laugh harder and Howon’s smile stretch bigger.  “It’s not even like I can keep in contact with him once we go back…” he mumbles.

“Well sure you can, ever heard of letters?” 

“But the fire nat-“ Howon coughs and stops himself.  Technically, he isn’t supposed to _know_ about any of that.  “Yea but that’s for losers,” Howon can tell his father doesn’t believe him with the skeptical eyebrow – but he lets it go anyway. 

Howon's father gives him a hum that sounds rather accusing but Howon just laughs it off awkwardly.   His father folds up the last of his uniforms and shoves them into the suitcase besides Howon’s clothes.  “Ah this was quite the vacation, but I can’t wait to get home,” His father takes a deep breath and Howon giggles.

“Can’t stand being around me so long?” Howon teases and his father pretends to punch him. 

“You’re more tolerable than your oldest brother,” His father clicks his tongue, “That one would’ve just kept trying to eavesdrop the whole time,” He gives Howon a pointed look and Howon returns it with an awkward chuckle.  “Well, at least he doesn’t get caught at it,”

“Uh…sorry?” Howon offers.

“Don’t say it if you don’t mean it,” His father runs his fingers through Howon’s hair and Howon can tell he’s not mad.  Maybe a little angry – but not mad.  That confuses him.

“Aren’t you mad at me though?”  He brushes his hand off his hair.  “You told us that this is war business only – specifically not to eavesdrop,” Howon imitated him with a gruff voice and earns another almost-punch from his father.

“I…know I did.”  His father stuffs his hand in his pockets and sits on the bed with a solemn expression on his face.  Howon still stands. “But this is getting out of hand far quicker than I thought it would,” he blows out a puff of air, “I think it’s better for you boys to be as educated as you can.  It won’t be any help to this war if all of our citizens are kept in the dark,” Howon can hear the hidden _you need to know if anything happens to me_ in his words.

Howon frowns slightly.  “So then…do you think…do you think they’ll accept the decree here…like they did in the other temples?”

Howon’s father turns to him with a wistful look and a small smile. He looks directly into Howon’s eyes and Howon wonders what he’s thinking.  “They will, Howon.”  His father lets out a deep sigh.  “They most definitely will…just as long as we’re out of here before that happens, it will be alright.”  He has that nostalgic look in his eyes again and Howon asks him what he’s thinking about so fondly.  He already knows the answer – he didn’t expect a different one from his father.  But he still likes hearing about this kind of stuff.

 “It would have been nice, you know.”  He whispers softly, “Nice if you grew up in a time unlike this,” his father chuckles.  “Before you were born…before this war, it was much nicer,” Howon holds in the snort – it was obvious.  But his father sees it in his eyes and gently knocks his knuckles against his forehead.  “Don’t tease me you brat, I mean it.” He closes his eyes and leans his head back and sucks in a big breath. “I wish you were born then, I could take you to the Southern water tribe.  I could take you to the Northern one to – they have the most beautiful of shows.  We could visit the fire nation, it’s a gorgeous place, the streets are lined with old cobblestone and the shows with lights and fire are so much prettier than ours,” His father chuckles, “I always got jealous when my dad took me, I wanted our shows to be that way.”

“But there’s only so much you can do with stone,” Howon muses and his father hums in agreement.

“At that time…I thought that one day I would move to the fire nation,” He notes the incredulous look in Howon’s eyes, “It wasn’t unheard of, you know, I had a big plan.  I was going to get married and move out there and have my children there and we would all watch the shows together every weekend.  It was going to be a family ritual.”  His father lets out a bitter chuckle.  “But then, of course, things didn’t end up that way.  It’s still my dream to take you to one of those, one day. You and your brothers, the whole family. I want to make that happen.”  His father reaches out to squeeze his hand, “One day, when this war ends, I promise I’ll take you.”

Howon wears a frown, “You shouldn’t promise that – it doesn’t seem like this war will end anytime soon,” he says bitterly (a part of him thinks of Sunggyu and Myungsoo – but logically he just sees all this as one big escape plan to the earth nation for them.  There’s no way they’ll actually end up saving the world).

His father brushes the hair off his forehead and leans over to kiss it.  Howon wrinkles his eyebrows and his father laughs.  “You used to cry when I did that when you were younger,” they both laugh, “Your brothers used to tell you that it was too babyish and you cried because you wanted to be an adult.” 

Howon whines to hide his blush and pushes his father off, but he only chuckles and pulls Howon into a hug and rustles his hair with his knuckles and relishes the sound of Howon grumbling and trying to push him off.  “You’ve really grown up, you know.  You and your brothers.”

Howon manages to get him off and tries to smooth his hair down again with a pout.  “Why are you getting all sentimental?”

His father has a soft smile, “I’m just happy I got to see all my boys grow up well before anything were to happen,” Howon opens his mouth to protest but his father stops him with a shake of the head. “It’s not realistic to think that everyone is going to make it out of this alive, Howon.  I don’t want you to hope for the best and be met with the worst.”

Howon lowers his gaze, “I _know_ that…but we’re going home, aren’t we? And then you’ll have loads of time back home before anything happens again.  We don’t have to think about that now. We can think about it later.”

His father laughs, “That kind of innocence can’t exist in war, Howon.”  His smile slowly falls until it becomes a frown, “You’re right, we have time.  But after I go home, it won’t be a lot of time.  The fire nation won’t settle silently if the air temple doesn’t agree.  And if they do – then we officially have two nations against us.  One of the water nation tribes has been taken over so harshly that –“

“I know.” Howon says bitterly.  He thinks of Myungsoo with sweat slipping down his forehead and exerting all his energy to bend the smallest of streams.  He thinks of Sunggyu and Myungsoo when he first found them – barefoot and cold.  In dingy clothes and nothing but the skin on their bones and hoping for change.  Howon knows more than his father on this one.  He knows that it’s horrible for them if they came this far hoping for something – _anything_. 

His father sighs, “You do, I suppose.  But the northern water tribe isn’t far behind – they can only fend off the fire nation for so long.  Once they fall, we’re the only hope left in this world.”

“And if we fail…” Howon trails off and his father starts to trace patterns on the bedsheets. “Then the world will be completely overtaken by the fire nation, and no one has a chance anymore.”

“That isn’t necessarily true,” His father says, “Heroes come in all forms, Howon. It doesn’t take an army to save the world if you truly have the will power, it could be you.”  Howon barks out a laugh at that, “I’m serious!” His father giggles, but Howon can hear that he means it.  “If anything should happen, it could end up being a group of rebels that fixes this place up.  It could be a small handful of people, or maybe it will be an army, maybe we’ll find an avatar.”  Howon averts his gaze.  “But it could be just about anyone, you’ll be surprised.”

Howon thinks about Myungsoo and his diligence.  He thinks about how his eyes were always glowing with determination even when Sungyeol yelled at him.  He thinks about how Myungsoo worked until he literally collapsed from exhaustion.  He thinks about Sunggyu and how he was always ready to pick Myungsoo back up and force water and food down his throat.  He thinks of Woohyun and how much the fire nation must’ve fucked up for him to leave.  Or maybe how much he rebelled for the fire nation to kick him out.  And Sungyeol’s hesitation to some of the air nation’s tendencies, how he’s just as afraid as they are as to what would happen if they accepted the fire nation’s decree. How despite all this patriotism, Sungyeol was still willing to stand up for them.  He even thinks of himself a little bit.  “Maybe it will be me,” His father smiles.

“You see? That’s the spirt!” his father ruffles his hair again despite Howon’s whine.  “I just have one thing to ask of you, Howon,” he looks up at his father expectantly, “This is only for you, not your brothers, you.” Howon feels a little important, but he also feels a little weary.

“If, anything should happen to me, or to your mother, I want you to promise me something.”  His father takes his hand in his and has a stern look in his eyes.

“What is it?” Howon asks hesitantly, he trusts his father, but he’s afraid.

“Don’t ever agree to the fire nation.”  His father squeezes his hand and his eyes are full of passion.  “I say this not only as your father, but as a military general, you’re a strong boy Howon.  Stronger than your brothers, really.” Howon smiles at that but the seriousness in his father’s eyes makes it drop, “I have faith that if anyone can stand up to them, if anyone can lead our nation to victory, it’s going to be you.”

Howon scoffs a little, “I can stand my ground against them, sure.  But I can’t lead a _nation_.”

“I was only speaking hypothetically,” his father assures him, “You don’t need to lead the nation. You don’t even need to lead, you just need to choose the right side to stay on.  Even if you fight on your own, even if your brothers leave you – though I beg you do all you can to keep them from that – stay on the right side Howon,” 

Howon nods his head firmly, “I can’t promise I can win anything, but I can promise I’ll never let the fire nation win me over.”

His father pulls him into the hug and Howon feels an ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach, but he chooses to ignore that because he has worse things to think about.  Like how the hell he’s going to get three stowaways onto a ship without anyone noticing.  He _could_ ask his father for help – but just because he’s magically okay with his eaves-dropping doesn’t mean he’s going to be magically okay with everything.  “I’m going to go find Sungyeol, say goodbyes and stuff.”

His father chuckles, “We still have tomorrow, and the day after depending on the weather,” his father reminds him, “That’s loads of time,”

“Yea well…” Howon rubs the back of his neck sheepishly, “Best make the most out of it,” 

His father bids him goodbye and Howon tries to remember the way to Sungyeol’s room.  He looks out the window and catches a ship rising out of the water – it looks like a fire nation ship but he figures it’s probably another one from the southern water tribe to negotiate more.

He hunts around for Sungyeol, but Sungyeol isn’t his main priority right now at all – but Woohyun wasn’t in the room when he came back (he probably saw his father or something and scampered off before he could be seen) so he needs to find him so they can discuss just how he’s gonna sneak the three of them on an earth nation ship.  He doesn’t think they’ll like it – but he might just shove them back into the cargo hold at last resort.

But before he gets the chance to get to Sungyeol’s room, he’s attacked – by a bear hug.

“D-Daeyeol what the heck?”  Howon tries to shove him off but the boy clings to him like a koala – so much so that it makes it almost difficult for Howon to breathe.  When he manages to shove him off and suck in a deep breath of air – it’s stolen by fear.

Daeyeol is shaking with fear.  Tears are sliding down his cheeks and his lips start to quiver.  He’s sobbing so hard that his hiccups come out loud and squeaky and Daeyeol can barely stop to breathe.  He clings onto Howon’s shirt and his body shakes so hard that Howon has to hold him steady. “What’s happening? What’s wrong? Sungyeol what happened to him?”

Sungyeol is calmer than Daeyeol – but that doesn’t mean he’s calm at all.  He grabs Howon’s arms so hard and his nails dig into flesh.  Howon yelps a little and tries to push him off but Sungyeol is too terrified to comply.  “Somebody tell me what the hell’s going on!”  Howon demands after successfully yanking out of Sungyeol’s grasp. 

Sungyeol feels apologetic at the little bit of blood that stains Howon’s shirt but he grabs it again and tries to explain as quickly as possible. “You have to get into air nation robes fast – I sent Woohyun to my room to change,”  Howon gurgles out a sound of confusion and Daeyeol grabs his other arm so both boys are yanking him as hard as they can.  “They’re going to _kill_ you!” Sungyeol hisses – his eyes glowing with fear, “You need to pretend to be a part of the air nation or they’ll kill you!”

Howon’s breathe catches in his throat and he feels his heart plummet.   His stomach flips and lunch is dangerously slithering up his throat.  “Sungyeol…w-what’s happening?”  Howon swallows the lump and prays that this can’t be happening right now.  He tries to count the sound of Sungyeol’s loud, thundering, footsteps to calm himself down but that doesn’t help.  Sungyeol usually walks light and airy – he must be extremely out of his element right now.  “Sungyeol this isn’t happening right?”

“They accepted,” Daeyeol chokes out, his voice is hoarse from all the crying and if Howon takes a closer look at him he can see that his eyes are already starting to swell.  “They accepted and the first thing they want to do is kill all earth nation people present.  They’re coming right now – as backup and then they’re going to kill all of you.”

Howon is dead silent for a moment.  His thoughts swirl in his head and for a second there’s so much happening that he feels a weird mix of dizzy and queasy and the strong urge to lie down.  But then it all crashes on him harshly and he’s more alert than he’s ever been in his life.  “M-my dad…I have to get my dad!”

“Later!”  Sungyeol snarls, “First we’re going to get you changed and get your dad, I’ll get my dad’s clothes for him but first we have to focus on you,”

In the pit of his stomach, Howon knows that’s the worst idea possible but he’s so shaken up he doesn’t have the will to refuse and lets Daeyeol and Sungyeol drag him along. “I don’t understand – we’ve always helped you. How could they do this?”

“Because the air nation is a group of selfish pricks!” Sungyeol screams, and he screams it _loud_.  A couple of heads turn but he doesn’t bother to acknowledge them as he storms forward with Howon in his grip and Daeyeol by his side and fumes the whole way.  He thinks that Howon might have to sneak on another boy onto his ship – if there will even be a ship.  But they’ll discuss that after the damage has been done.

And some time in the future, maybe when he’s older, Sungyeol will look back at this day.  Look back at this day and he’ll chuckle about it.  He won’t laugh – it isn’t a laughing matter everything that’s going to happen this day.  But he’ll think that it defined how the rest of the war was to play out. 

This day changed the lives of seven boys – Sungyeol will think.

Daeyeol lets out a blood-curdling scream when a man dressed from head to do in soot black clothing charges through a window with a grin so wide and eyes so wild.  He cackles like a witch and Howon’s head already feels like it’s going to split open.  He vaguely registers Sungyeol yell something at him, but he clearly doesn’t react fast enough because Sungyeol pushes him down until his face is pressed against the wooden floor and stream of fire licks the tip of his hair.  While Howon is still dazed, a whip of wind slashes the man in the stomach and he groans in pain and Howon only just realizes Sungyeol’s fingers are a light gray before he’s yanked to his feet and shoved forward again.

They start to run, now, and Howon’s brain manages to catch up.   It ends up Sungyeol squeezing Howon’s forearm so tight that it starts to bruise and Howon dragging Daeyeol along when he starts to lag out of mix of raw fear and pure exhaustion.  The kid’s been running to find him all day, after all. 

It doesn’t take long until the temple is thrown into a mess.  Sungyeol hears screams ringing in his ears and there’s so much fire being bended that the temple heats up and sweat starts pouring off his body like tears.  He doesn’t dare stop though, the only thought running in his mind is to get Howon to safety, and it’s on repeat.

Howon gasps when a fire bender has the neck of one of his father’s colleague’s in his grasp and a crooked grin on his face.  Howon hears the earth bender squeal and squeak and he watches him claw at the air and he wants to turn his head and look away but he _can’t_.   The fire bender man laughs and the sound almost makes Howon’s ears bleed.  His laughter mingles with the sound of the earth nation man’s last squeals for breath and it all makes Howon want to puke.  Sungyeol ends up swerving around just as the man’s fingers glow a bright orange and fire is being shoved down the earth bender’s throats and Howon smells burning flesh and hears a scream that sounds like its underwater – Howon realizes it must be because the man’s mouth is filling with blood. 

“M-My dad…” he starts but Sungyeol’s grip tightens and he drags him harder.

“We don’t have time to think about that right now, we have to get to my room first, your father’s a military general; he can manage.”  Howon doesn’t believe Sungyeol’s words.  He truly doesn’t.  But he forces himself to for the sake of his sanity. 

“All it takes is some air nation robes, it’s all it takes.”   Daeyeol mumbles besides him and from the fear in his voice – Howon realizes that Daeyeol is afraid that’s not true.  Howon wonders if it’s truly only earth nation people that are being brutally murdered right now. 

That question’s answered when Sungyeol stops dead in his tracks and Howon crashes into his back.

A man dressed in air nation robes and a long white beard is in the grip of two fire nation men and thrashes wildly to break free.  A third man grabs his beard and it rips it off his face – the elder man screams so loud Sungyeol lets go of Howon’s forearm to cover his own ears and Daeyeol starts to shake violently – as if he’s about to go into a panic attack.  Blood drips down the man’s chin and his eyes look weakened. 

The third fire nation man’s hands glow a bright orange and he covers his palm with a barrier of fire and presses it directly into the man’s face.   The man doesn’t stop screaming and crying and Sungyeol watches his face cook and burst into boils and he watches him _cry_. _“Please please please.”_  The fire nation man only cackles louder the more the man begs and the blood streams out of his ears and out of his nose and his begging dies down until he collapses onto the floor with open eyes and a face blackened with burns.

It’s the first time Sungyeol and Howon witness the true meaning of war. 

Howon weaves them around the fire nation men – to busy laughing and admiring their handiwork to claim them their next targets. Not that they probably would have anyway – people all over the temple are running amok – it’s the craziest Sungyeol has ever seen it.

“Daeyeol, find mom and dad okay?”  Sungyeol grabs his brother’s shoulders and Daeyeol looks like a frightened puppy.  “Find mom and dad and get on a safety canoe alright?  Find them and Get. Off. This. Temple.” Sungyeol shakes him and Daeyeol whimpers a little but nods in shaken agreement.  “Don’t wait for me, alright? Me and Hoya are going somewhere else, alright? Just get off the temple and don’t wait for me and go somewhere safe okay,”

Daeyeol starts to cry and Sungyeol squishes him against his chest and tells him he loves him before he sends his brother off.  He vaguely wonders if he’ll ever see him again but there isn’t any time for that.

Sungyeol and Howon sprint, hand in hand, fingers intertwined, and clinging to each other for the sake of having something to cling to.  It feels like a nightmare and they need each other to know that it’s real – to know that it’s truly happening.

Howon lets out a scream when he sees to fire nation boys break the door down to Sungyeol’s room.  “Get away from there!”  He lets go of Sungyeol and his fingers glow green and a piece of the door rips off and hits one of the two – the bald one – straight in the head.   Sungyeol and Hoya barge into the room and move to attack but a large wall of fire separates them from the others.  Sungyeol can only catch a glimpse of Myungsoo’s face – pale and his eyes widened so large they look like they’ll fall out – before Howon yanks him back from the wall of orange stopping his path.

But it only stays up for so long – the boy that holds it up tires out quickly and it falls and Sungyeol looks directly into the eyes of a bald fire nation boy.  His fingers start to glow a light gray and he’s already forming a whip of wind so sharp the boy will never think of touching his friends ever again.  But he immediately throws his arms up, “I’m not going to hurt you unless you hurt me,”

Sungyeol keeps the whip ready and even Howon has half of the door hovering.   “Why would I believe you?”  Sungyeol spits and he quickly spares a glance to Myungsoo and finds him clinging to Sunggyu’s shirt in pure fear and Woohyun with a whip of fire spiraling between his hands. 

“My name is Dongwoo, and this is Sungjong,” the boy named Sungjong snarls at him and Dongwoo swallows nervously.  

“Dongwoo this isn’t the _time_ ,” Sungjong snaps at him. 

Sungjong, like the rest of them, has a whip of fire ready.  But he’s too mesmerized staring at the boy with jet black hair and big brown eyes.  His skin is too pale and his eyes are so huge and innocent it reminds Sungjong of a frightened little kitten.  He’s clinging to another boy, with skin just as pale, like a baby and Sungjong can see sweat sprouting on his forehead. 

They all stand in a forced silence for a while.  The most prominent sound is Myungsoo’s rapid breathing and the crackling of fire and air in their self-made weapons.  Dongwoo knows this won’t last for long – he’s surprised Sungjong has made it so long, honestly.  He’s shocked that he hasn’t attacked yet.   One of the air nation’s boys stammers something out – obviously to break the silence, and to offer a little bit of trust.  “M-M-Myungsoo.   I’m Myungsoo.”

And as if his voice is the key to snap Sungjong back into reality, the whip of fire he’d been holding slices straight for Myungsoo’s head.  But the smaller-eyed boy manages to push him under his back just in time and Sungjong’s fire whip collides with the other boy (he’s dressed in earth nation clothes) and a burst of sparks flies out.  Sungjong registers Myungsoo squeak out, “Woohyun Hyung!” and Sungjong feels a thick piece of wood slam into the back of his head.  His concentration breaks and his fire whip wavers until it diminishes and Sungjong turns around with a growl to face the boy with glowing green hands.

“Don’t you touch them,” he growls, voice low and menacing. 

Dongwoo opens his own whip of fire, “I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispers again, “But I will defend myself and Sungjong if I have to,” the earth bender boy gives him a glare and bares his teeth.

“Hoya throw off his breathing,” the fire-bending boy has a glare in his eyes and a new whip of fire ready in his hand.   There’s a small stream of blood trickling down his forehead and a burn mark that Sungjong assumes he is the creator of.  He expects it to give him a sense of pride, but it instead makes him feel sick to his stomach. “Fire-bending is all about breathing – fuck that up and we can win.”

Sungyeol is the first to attack, with a whip of air so sharp that it slices through Dongwoo’s arm deep enough to make him shriek in pain and pull back.  He manages to duck beneath the next one that Sungyeol sends his way and Sungjong responds by with a stream of fire aimed directly for his nose. 

But that’s when the most surprising thing of all happens; his fire is extinguished and he is dowsed _by water_.  Sungjong looks up to see a snarl on Myungsoo’s face and his eyes narrowed into slits and a menacing tone in his voice, “Don’t you hurt them you piece of shit.”  Sungjong notices the light blue glow in his fingers and he decides to fuck fire-bending and lunges for Myungsoo with his bare hands.

The thought that Myungsoo’s a water bender make’s Sungjong’s rage go up an octave.  He thinks of his mother and he thinks of his father and the thought of    _kill kill kill_ circulates in his head and he feels the urgent need to snap Myungsoo’s neck. 

“You’re kind killed my mom!” Sungjong makes a grab for Myungsoo’s neck but the water bender kicks him hard in the stomach and Sungjong slides back a few feet.  “My dad is missing coming back from your oceans, I’ll kill every last one of you!”  He gets a hold on Myungsoo’s neck but he’s ripped away just as fast.

Sunggyu grabs him by the scruff of his neck and sends him skidding half way across the room and into Sungyeol’s legs.  Sungjong then notices the collection of empty water bottles on the floor and figures that’s where Myungsoo must’ve gotten all the water.  The air-bender tries to stomp on his fingers but Sungjong pulls his hand away and yank on Sungyeol ankle until he falls and the air whip he had aimed at Dongwoo slices part of the wall instead. 

Sungjong creates a small ball of fire and presses it against Sungyeol’s ankle and ignores the scream that stings his ears.  A ball of water surrounds his face and fills his lungs and Sungjong’s fire extinguishes again and he violently tries to claw away from the water until Myungsoo can’t hold it any longer and it drops.  He starts to pant heavily and Sungjong takes the opening.  He crawls for Myungsoo but Sunggyu grabs his neck in a headlock instead – trying to cut his breathing long enough that it makes it difficult for him to bend.

Dongwoo stops Howon with a barrier of fire that almost touches his nose when he tries to lunge for the back of Sungjong’s neck and Howon sends a piece of wood that cracked off Sungyeol’s bookshelf for his head instead.  Dongwoo manages to dodge it simply though, “Please,” he tries–  but in his attempt to pacify Howon he doesn’t dodge the fire that licks the top of his head on Woohyun’s part – and then the memory of the other night fills his mind and Dongwoo’s fire starts to waver.

 “The bald one!”  Woohyun cries, “He’s having trouble breathe, go for him Sungyeol!” 

Fear floods Sungjong’s heart when he sees Dongwoo’s eyes widen in fear and he sinks his teeth into Sunggyu’s palm until the boy screams and Sungjong kicks him so hard in the stomach that Sunggyu keels over in pain and manages to dodge the weakened water-knife that Myungsoo slices for his ankle. 

Sungjong has a whip of fire ready and lunges for Sungyeol but he ducks and Sungjong smashes his nose against the wall.  Blood pours out of his nostrils and a low growl emits from his throat. 

Woohyun notices that Dongwoo’s slowly starting to gain his composure and he grabs Sunggyu’s arm and barely manages to belt out a, “Run!” before he’s in the hallway and sprinting as if his life depends on it.  Sunggyu manages to latch on to Myungsoo and Sungyeol grabs Hoya’s forearm again and the five of them are out in the hallway and sprinting as if there life depends on it – which, ironically, it does.

Sungyeol slips on one of the emptied water bottles and slams into the hallway walls.  He lets out a whimper but Hoya is already dragging him behind Woohyun.  He hears Sungjong’s growl close on their tail but doesn’t bother to look back.  They have no time for this.  “Where do we go?”  Woohyun pants and tosses a fearful look at Sungyeol. 

“The back of the temple,” he chokes out, “Go to the back of the temple, there’s rescue canoes there and that’s our last hope.  That’s all we have.”

Woohyun gives him a grunt and they run.  Sungyeol screams when he feels warmth gaze his back and he hears Sungjong’s cry of frustration behind him.  But it fizzles out by rough cries of, “Dongwoo let go! Dongwoo let _go of me!_ ”  And Sungyeol’s mind is too fuzzy with fear to make out anything else. 

There’s fire flying all over the temple and the whistle of sharp wind buzzes loudly in their ears and they run.  Sungyeol’s face feels wet and he doesn’t know if it’s from sweat or if it’s from tears.  It doesn’t really matter anymore.  The burn on his foot starts to ache the more he runs but that’s the last of his worries.

Sungyeol skids to a stop in front a room bolted by one of the air locks and the boys crowd around him, their harsh breathing thick on his neck.  But Sungyeol doesn’t even need to open it – it’s already been burned open.  He throws the door open and his lets out a strangled noise. The canoes are scattered and dark black holes are singed into them.  “They’re all burned!” 

“They’re has to be _one_ ,” Myungsoo cries and starts sifting through the canoes – which proves to be harder than he thought.  They’ve all been thrown all over and it’s become impossible to move them.  Howon has enough sense to shut the singed door so they can at least look before they’re found again and burned to death. 

“This one!” Sunggyu screams from the other side of the room, “This one’s clean!”

“Pull it to the hatch over here, it’s going to launch us into the ocean!”  Sungyeol cries and Sunggyu tries to push the boat over with Woohyun’s help.  But it’s too much for the two of them so Myungsoo and Sungyeol end up going to help too.

Howon stands frozen – rooted to his spot.  “But my _dad!”_  He squeaks and tears start to prickle in his eyes and Howon has been through so much over the past hour that he doesn’t even realize that they’re falling down his cheeks.  “I have to find my dad!” 

“Howon there isn’t any _time!”_ Sungyeol yells at him and shakes his shoulders so hard that Howon starts to feel dizzy.  They load the boat into the hatch and Sungyeol shoves Howon into it first and holds him down, out of fear he’s going to do something stupid and try to break free.

“The lever,” Sungyeol tries to unhitch the lever but it’s jammed and won’t budge an inch. “Howon unbend the wood around it, it’s jammed.” 

 _“But my dad!”_ Howon squeaks.

“Howon we have to _go_!”  Sunggyu yells at him but Howon is too paralyzed to move. 

And then, the door is thrown open.  Sungyeol almost screams out of fright, but it just turns out to be Daeyeol.  “I-I couldn’t find them,” he squeaks, tears still prickling at the corner of his eyes.

Sungyeol ignores the sting in his gut at that, “Just get in, there isn’t any time to worry about that,”

Daeyeol screams before he can take another step forward.  A knife is plunged into his arm and he collapses to the floor in pain.  A fire nation soldier with bright yellow-hair and a sickening smile laughs.  “Daeyeol!” Sungyeol screams and tries to scamper out of the boat – it takes both Woohyun and Myungsoo to hold him down. 

The boy rips his knife out of Daeyeol’s arm and he screams so loud that it makes Sungyeol’s heart burst and that scream is imprinted into Sungyeol’s memory forever.  He thrashes in the boat in an attempt to save his brother and tries to whip air at the boy, but his mind is so hazy it’s impossible. 

The boy lunges for Daeyeol’s heart, but a man’s leg comes in the way.  An earth nation man. 

“Dad!” Howon cries. 

“Howon, you need to go.”  His dad yanks the fire nation boy back by his hair and socks him straight in the stomach.  The boy bends a whip of fire that slices at Howon’s father’s arm and Howon tries to break free but Sunggyu pulls him back.  _“Howon you need to go!”_

Tears prick at the corner of his eyes, but Howon unbends the lever.  While writhing in pain on the floor, Daeyeol still has a small smile on his face and mouths out _I love you_.

Sungyeol pulls.

The canoe plummets until it hits water that splashes over the sides of the boat and hits them in the face. 

Sungyeol watches the waves wash the boat away from them temple – the place that he’s called home for all fifteen years of his life and forces himself not to cry.  “I lost my home.”  He focuses on the sound of water swishing against the boat and it’s so much more peaceful in the water.  The temperature is cooler and there’s no more deadly screams.  But Sungyeol’s head still pounds. 

“We all did,” Woohyun whispers.

Myungsoo rests his head on the side of the boat and lulls the waves in a way that doesn’t tire him out but makes the boat move faster.  _“To Ba Sing Sae.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is 6k and full of so much action...i was gonna split it up but I just really wanted everything that happened to happen in this chapter. but i start uni again on monday so back to slow updating :/
> 
> I also made an ask.fm:
> 
> http://ask.fm/hamstergyu96


	13. twelve

It’s been three days since they left the air temple, but Howon still wakes with a jolt.  That ends up being Woohyun and his ferocious kick – Howon thinks Sunggyu made this sleeping arrangement purposely to avoid that and growls at Woohyun’s sleeping form.  He looks up to see he’s not the only one up; Myungsoo gives him a lazy smile and from the light blue tint of his fingers, Howon guesses the light lull of the waves is his doing.  His hair is still askew but Howon can tell he’s been up for a while. Over the past three days, Myungsoo’s always been the first to wake up.  “Morning,” Howon mumbles before letting out a ferocious yawn.

Myungsoo gives him a grunt in acknowledgement and goes back to his waves; Myungsoo isn’t very much of a chatterbox to begin with (for that Howon is thankful – Sungyeol is more than enough to deal with).   But he barely opens his mouth when he’s bending – which has been a lot recently now that he has the chance.  

Howon sighs and stretches out his back and winces when it cracks loudly – sleeping in a canoe isn’t the easiest feat.  He hasn’t really had time to think about that in the past few days.  He truly hasn’t had much time to think about anything other than if his dad’s alright or if anyone survived. Howon’s had a lot on his mind.  It hurts to think about it all, to think that he’s floating off in the middle of the ocean, on his way home, when more than half the people he came with are dead somewhere.  Howon knows he should be thankful – but he isn’t.  He can’t be thankful when his stomach churns knowing that this is all because of his stupid luck.  He’s lucky to be alive. 

Howon doesn’t have much right to complain either, all he can do is push these thoughts away and shoot for a better future.  All he can do is hope that his dad found a canoe of his own; or at least went into hiding.  All he can hope is that Daeyeol is alive and well, that Sungyeol will have family to go back to.  He hopes Myungsoo and Sunggyu do too.  Howon knows that all he can do is hope right now, and he’s never hated hoping so much in his life.  It’s a desperate feeling.

Howon tosses a glance at Sungyeol to see him still curled in a ball, faced away from the rest of them and his arms wrapped around his knees.  Howon knows that Sungyeol isn’t okay.  He hasn’t known him very long – but the sarcasm Sungyeol spits out recently has more bite than normal.  He’s scared.  They all are.  But Howon thinks Sungyeol’s scared the most.  He didn’t have any involvement in this war – he just eavesdropped a lot.  Now he’s caught in the middle of it and left his family behind and is probably just as terrified as Howon is.  But they both do the same thing – they push out those thoughts and they hope.  All they can do is hope.  And Howon really hates that.

Howon’s stomach grumbles and he gives one longing look to their dwindling food supplies before deciding against breakfast.  It needs to last them until they reach the earth nation, and despite being caught in an ocean, fishing clearly is no option on a canoe.  Howon unravels the map that had been tucked into the emergency kit along with food and tons of other supplies right when Sunggyu groggily sits up and scratches his head.   Howon was the one that mapped out the route – he remembers it vaguely from when he came here with his dad.  There’s a thick black line drawn in and a line of X’s marked down a path of what Howon hopes they’ve traveled.  He can’t be sure though; he’s no navigator.   He uncaps the marker and marks a few more X’s (it’s all guessing and hoping he’s right at this point). He looks at the large circle on Ba Sing Sae and sighs loudly, “We’ve still got at least a week’s worth of travel,” he says solemnly to himself.   “I don’t know if we’ll last that long.”

Sunggyu grimaces and stretches out his arms before snatching the map out from under Howon.  He steals a glance at the food bucket that has gone from full to nearly empty over the course of three days.  It wasn’t meant to last for long – and clearly it isn’t going to.  They’ve eaten over half the bucket over three days – the rest isn’t going to last them seven more. “We can’t go this route.” Sunggyu says finally and watches Woohyun and Sungyeol wake up last and rub sleep from their eyes.  “There’s no way we’ll be able to make it.”

The lulling waves stop and Myungsoo tosses Sunggyu an angered look, “We have to make it,” he says sternly.  Howon thinks he says it with more fear than optimism.  “Once we hit land we can refill the bucket with fish and we can cook it over a fire later,” 

“But we need to hit land for that,” Sunggyu says pointedly and pauses for a moment and frowns, “Just because we have to, doesn’t mean we will.”

Sungyeol reaches for the box of food and Sunggyu smacks his hand away with a growl.  “You aren’t helping,” Howon giggles – he feels Sungyeol and he have the most emotional connection right now, but it’s still fun to watch him in pain.  It distracts everyone, he thinks.

Sungyeol grumbles and crosses his arms over his chest, “If we’re going to die at sea, we might as well die on a full stomach,”  Sunggyu smacks him on the head and Howon smiles smugly. 

“We aren’t going to die,” Woohyun interjects and pushes past Sungyeol; stepping on his stomach and earning a yelp.  All the pain that everyone causes Sungyeol just brightens Howon’s mood more and more.  “We just have to take a detour,”

“Detour to where?”  Sungyeol demands, rubbing his stomach angrily and Howon thinks he’s on the verge of blowing a gust of wind that knocks Woohyun right off his feet and into the ocean. 

Woohyun points to the last X Howon had marked.  “If we’re where we think we are…” he follows the trail of marker that Howon made from the air temple that lines their route.  “We should be here,” Woohyun taps the black line and grabs the marker again.  He uncaps it and draws another one branching off from it.  It leads to a piece of land directly straight from where they are – miles away from Ba Sing Sae. “We could go to this place over here, it’s a faster journey.” 

Sunggyu follows Woohyun’s line with a frown, “It wouldn’t be much longer than a day – possibly two but it would be faster to go by boat…”  Sunggyu looks at the stretch of land they would need to cross to reach Ba Sing Sae and shudders.  “But you might be right…I don’t think we have much choice.”

Sungyeol snatches the map from them and ignores the cry of protest Sunggyu lets out.  “But it’s too much land, and what guarantee is there we’ll even find food?”

Myungsoo rolls his eyes and splashes a bit of water in Sungyeol’s face.  Hearing the air nation boy cough and splutter makes him feel a little bit better.  “There isn’t one, but if we stay on this route we’re going to run out of it anyway.  And sleeping on land is better than sleeping in this thing,”

Howon silently nods in agreement – sleeping in a canoe sucks.

“We’d have to cross the entire earth nation,” Howon circles the long stretch of land with his finger.  “There’s tons of caravans that run across and if we’re sneaky – we might be able to jump on one.”  Howon longingly glances at his own home on the map and wonders how long it will take him to get back there as well.

“And what if we’re not sneaky enough?”  Sungyeol raises an eyebrow and gives Myungsoo a pointed look.  He splashes water in his face again and Sungyeol groans.

Howon shrugs his shoulders at Sungyeol who pushes back his sopping hair with a snarl on his lips.  “We walk, then.”  No one protests, there isn’t much better for them anyway.  “We can probably get lucky and hitch a ride, or at least find people kind enough to give us food along the way, but other than that, all we can do is walk.”

“And you won’t be going with us, will you?” Woohyun asks him and the canoe quiets.

Almost everyone (except for Sungyeol) avoids his gaze but Howon knows they’re all listening.  At least, he’s sure Myungsoo is.  He turns his head to the waves and runs his fingers in the water – but they aren’t glowing.  Howon uncaps the marker and dots a spot a little before Ba Sing Sae, the one he was looking at, “I’ll be leaving you here,”

Howon hears the sounds of the waves smashing against the current and watches Myungsoo rest his head on the edge of the canoe.  No one says anything – there really isn’t anything to say.  “You could stay, you know.” Sungyeol mumbles under his breath – so quiet that Howon wouldn’t catch it if it were any smaller. 

Howon opens and closes his mouth several times, unsure of the right words to use.  They end up tumbling out of his mouth before he can stop them, “I want to go home.”  Howon supposes it’s pretty insensitive for him to say – considering no one except for him has a home anymore.  But he can’t help it.  He wants to feel his mom running his fingers through his hair and he wants to shove his brother in a pile of mud and he wants to eat his mother’s famous chicken soup and he wants to be able spar with his brothers again and he just wants his home.  “I’m sorry.”  He whispers and he notices that Myungsoo’s fingers have started to glow again and the only one truly looking at him is Sungyeol.  His eyes don’t hold much emotion though and Howon feels a little guilty. “I just really want to go home.”

It’s Sunggyu that gives him a comfortable pat on the back and brushes it off with a chuckle.  “We all do, really.”  Everyone else falls into place rummaging around the boat and finding something to entertain them, but Howon notices the crestfallen look in Sungyeol’s eyes before he jumps back up and settles to annoy Woohyun with a whip of air up his nose until the fire bender smacks him.  “You take us to Ba Sing Sae, we’ll take you home.”

Howon wants to tell them that they don’t have to go all the way to Ba Sing Sae either.  He wants to tell them that he could help them build a hut or something – close by to his own home.  He could help them find little odd jobs – they could even help his mom around the house for some loose change.  He wants to tell them that it’ll be hard for a while but one day they’ll get a life going.  One day they’ll all meet someone they want to spend the rest of their life with and settle down in the earth nation and everything will be okay.  Howon wants to tell them that it will be okay if they just stay with him.

But Howon can’t do that.

He thinks of his father’s words.  He thinks of what’s going to happen if the fire nation gets strong enough and he visibly shudders – Sungyeol tosses him an odd look but he brushes it off.  Howon thinks of all their determination, all that strength and he thinks of how far Sunggyu and Myungsoo have come.  They snuck on a fire nation ship, illegally visited the air nation and stole one of their canoes.  They’d live a nice life in the earth nation – but they won’t do that.  They would never do that. 

Howon will go back to his family.  He’ll be sleeping in his warm bed and he’ll be teasing his brothers again soon enough.  He’ll go back to school once summer vacation ends (if he’s even home by that time) and he’ll see all his friends again and Howon’s life will go back to normal.

But these people, they’re going to be heroes. 

Howon doesn’t hope for that, he knows it’s going to happen.  He’s been hoping for so much that he doesn’t want to hope anymore.

He wants to know. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this took a super long time, but college just sucks, hopefully it won't take as long the next time!


	14. thirteen

Sungjong growls at the hands pressing against his throat and feels the rope of the ring digging into the flesh of his heals.  He hears laughter ringing in his ears and someone faintly calling out his name followed by a string of not so nice words.  Sungjong decides he hates combat training the worst. 

His yellow-haired opponent (who’s name Sungjong has yet to learn, still) sneers against Sungjong’s face and he can feel his warm breath prickling up his skin along with heat radiating from his fingers.  “You know, I could burn your scrawny little throat open right now. Wouldn’t you rather be on my side than with your dumb peace-loving friend?” 

Sungjong hears more shouts ringing in his ears but he drowns them out and aims his heel for the joint in yellow-hair’s knee.  The boy lets out a low grunt and crumples in front of Sungjong allowing him open access to press his heel hard into his nose. Sungjong feels liquid beneath his toes and he knows he should feel victorious, but it makes his stomach grumble in disgust.   Sungjong vaguely hears the military general calling out, “That isn’t enough Sungjong; you need to crush until you hear a bone crack.” 

With a soft whimper under his foot, Sungjong doesn’t have the heart to do it. He manages to fake it well enough until his opponent yanks at his heel and Sungjong’s skull hits the base of the ring.  Thankfully it isn’t hard enough to break anything, but it still stings and makes his eyes swim with tears.  Sungjong feels a heavy weight on his stomach and he forces out a cough and tries to wriggle free.  “You going easy on me, kid?”  Yellow-hair has a sour look on his face, and he speaks barely above a whisper.  “They’re gonna kill you if they see you show that kind of weakness.  You can’t go easy in the ring.”

Sungjong finds it almost odd that he’s being lectured while sat on and physically having the air knocked out of his lungs.  But his scrawny form gives him the ability to wriggle free before the timer counts down from ten to zero.  Sungjong feels the need to explain himself, the need to say he doesn’t like the feel of sticky blood in between his toes and he really hates that cracking sound.  But he can’t say that here, he probably can’t say that ever.  This is the fire nation and all signs of weakness end with death. 

Sungjong’s been starting to think about that though.  It’s been a full week since the raid at the air nation temple and he’s had quite some time to think.  He’s been starting to think about why they would kill their allies.  He’s also been starting to think what good the world is with so little air benders left.  He thinks a lot about how maybe this whole war is not all it’s cut out to be but Sungjong pushes those thoughts out quickly.  He can’t afford to think about these things with war nipping at his heels and fear shrouding over his heart.  This is the kind of stuff Dongwoo frets over and Sungjong can’t become Dongwoo.  His hair is finally starting to grow back, it’s a light fuzz now, but Sungjong still fears of ending up that way. 

And that, is what Sungjong thinks about the most, fear. 

Sungjong barely has enough time to gather his thoughts together before Yellow-hair is up and aiming a kick to knock him off his toes.  Fire isn’t allowed in combat practice – for which Sungjong is thankful.  He can practically smell his own flesh sizzling if his opponent were allowed to use fire.  There’s a thin sheen of sweat coating both their foreheads and Sungjong can hear the frustration in his squad captain’s voice because this is taking so long.  “Sungjong! Stop fleeting around, if you have the power to attack, then do it!”

Sungjong doesn’t want to.  These days the will to attack is starting to diminish.  That’s another thing Sungjong thinks about a lot, what is he gonna do if a life is in his hands?  What is he gonna do is someone’s throat is in his fingers and all he has to do is crush it?  The thought makes him shiver.  Before he came here, it was a vague idea.  It was almost something in the distance that seemed unattainable to him.  But since the day of the raid, the idea is fresh in his mind, he can kill.  He has to kill.  Death is in Sungjong’s ability.  He can _kill_ someone.  And all that power isn’t something Sungjong wants.  He isn’t noble, he’s afraid.  It boils back down to that, the fear curdling in his veins. 

This time, being lost in thought allows Sungjong to be knocked off his feet.  His butt hits the mat (it really isn’t as soft as it should be) with a rough thud and he yelps in pain.  Yellow-hair is on his torso in seconds, digging his knees into his chest and holding down his palms with his hands.  Sungjong struggles beneath him and attempts to break free before the timer hits zero. 

At least, he makes it look that way.  Sungjong’s had enough of this jumping around shit anyway.  Yellow-hair’s grip around his wrists is significantly lighter, almost as if he’s begging Sungjong to pretend.  It occurs to Sungjong that maybe he’s not the only one that’s having all these fearful thoughts about war.  But then he sees Yellow-hair panting and out of breath.  He sees the sinister look in his eyes and the fang-like teeth.  He thinks back to Dongwoo’s hair and the smell of singed flesh.  All that makes his stomach churn and make him want to puke.  The counter hits zero, but Yellow-hair still lingers for a few extra seconds to rub the sinister smile into Sungjong’s face before pushing off and offering him a hand that Sungjong doesn’t take.

His squad captain tells him he needs to take the initiative and start attacking more.  He assumes Sungjong’s afraid because Yellow-hair is bigger than him so he gives a few “pointers” on how to take down someone like that.  Overall, it’s meant to be praise, no one directly says “good job!” except for Dongwoo anyways. 

Dongwoo tosses him a water bottle and Sungjong swallows it all in one gulp.  He’s still panting when they head back towards their shared tent and they walk alone.  So Dongwoo lets a couple things slip.  A few Sungjong was praying he wouldn’t, but expected he would.  “War isn’t something you’re cut out for, is it?”

Sungjong swallows the lump in his throat.  “I just need to get the hang of it,” he grumbles lamely, but hiding things from the boy you grew up with isn’t easy.  Dongwoo tosses him a snort and Sungjong sighs tiredly.  “It’s just…rougher than I expected it to be.”  That’s a lie too, “Ok no it’s just…I thought I could handle it,”  Sungjong decides.

“It’s not something you can handle, you can’t just kill someone and expect to walk out guilt-free,” Dongwoo pauses for a moment, “At least, _you_ can’t.  I don’t know about some of these people.”  Sungjong sports a tiny smile of agreement, but doesn’t let it spread to wide.  “You know, the more this whole war thing spreads, the more I want to leave.”

Sungjong lets the cool air wash over him and tries to respond as nonchalantly as possible despite the fear crawling up his throat.  _I don’t want to be alone._ “You can’t just leave, they’ll kill you.”  Sungjong steals a glance from the corner of his eye and the fear is spreading over his heart the more the smile grows on Dongwoo’s face.

“Don’t think I’d care,” He chuckles earnestly.  “At least I’d be free from this shit,” Dongwoo spreads out his arms as if they’re wings and the wind is going to carry him away.  For a vague moment, Sungjong finds himself wishing it were just that easy.  “I’m serious though, I think…I think I want to run away.”

 _Please don’t.  I’m too scared to do this on my own._  “You’re crazy you know?”  The tremble in his voice betrays the nonchalance Sungjong tries to pull off.  “I’d kill you with my own two hands if you even tried,” Sungjong tries to make the situation funny.

Dongwoo has a frown on his face and his eyes trained on the ground.  “I’m serious though, I think…someday, I’m gonna do it.”  Dongwoo’s lips stretch into a smile and Sungjong doesn’t think he’s seen Dongwoo smile that big and that sincere in a really long time.  It stings.  “I can’t take this kill other nations shit, I’m gonna run.”

 _Don’t leave me alone.  I don’t want to be alone._ “Where are you even gonna go?”  _Won’t you take me with you?_ “Do you think anyone will take in a runaway a fire nation soldier?” _I’m scared to run though…but I’m scared to stay.  I’m so so so scared._

Dongwoo shrugs his shoulders, “Maybe some rundown village, I dunno.” Dongwoo has a big goofy grin, “Wherever they’ll take a runaway like me is a good enough place to live,”

 _I’m scared. So fucking scared. I’m so scared.  Don’t leave me I’m scared._ “What about your mom? Dad?” _Me?_

“I don’t think they’ll be too shocked,” Dongwoo pushes open the flap to their tent and climbs to his bunk on the top and flops down loudly with a sigh.  Sungjong sits down on his own bunk slowly, a shaky feeling swimming in his stomach.  “My dad always told me I needed to get my act together with this thing, I think he’ll be shocked least of all,”

Sungjong doesn’t say anything, but his hands feel shaky and his body feels weak.  The room starts to spin and Sungjong feels like if he even tries to stand he’ll topple over.  Lunch starts to crawl up his stomach and there’s this huge lump in his throat.  _You’re going to be all alone in this big bad world.  All alone and a killer.  You’re going to be a monster._   

“Hey Jong, you alright?”  Dongwoo’s voice seems far away.  Sungjong pictures his mother and his father and in seconds his face is in his hands and tears are crawling out of his eyes.  Sungjong starts hiccupping violently and he imagines sitting at home and eating waffles and the tears won’t stop.  It all amounts to a weird mix of two things, fear and loneliness. 

Sungjong starts choking out words and fragments and he doesn’t even know what order they go in.  Dongwoo leaps off his bunk and pulls Sungjong against his check and tries to wipe away the tears but Sungjong sobs harder and keeps chanting.  _I’m so alone.  I’m afraid.  I can’t do it.  I’m too lonely.  I’m too scared_. 

“Hey Jong, Sungjong!”  Dongwoo squeezes him harder against his chest but Sungjong doesn’t let up.  He continues to cry well into the night even when Dongwoo falls asleep with his arms tight around him.  He cries because he feels so far and detached. 

Sungjong cries himself to sleep wishing he wouldn’t wake up.


	15. fourteen

Howon starts kissing the ground the second his feet leave the boat.  He barely makes it to shore, collapsing in the moist dirt and digging his fingers into the ground with a loud yelp.  He lets it sink under his nails and he coat his hands and releases a moan.  Sungyel gives him a look of pure disgust, but Howon doesn’t even care.   “I _never_ thought I would see land again,” he whimpers.

Sungyeol rolls his eyes and does his best to control his wobbling to avoid stepping all over Howon.  He turns back to watch Sunggyu and Woohyun try to smash the canoe to pieces.  It was originally his idea to do so, in fear of anyone coming after them.  Sungyeol watches them claw away the tiny little air nation symbol engraved in the front until it’s not recognizable, until it’s all a bunch of nail marks and not a delicately carved symbol of pride. He ignores the sting in his heart that follows.  

“So, land.”  Myungsoo starts, stretching out his limbs and wiggling his toes.  “What do we do now?”

“You’re the one that wanted to play hero,”  Sunggyu grunts and drops a particular heavy piece of stone to finish off the canoe.  If anyone finds the remnants, they’ll think the boat was caught in something disastrous. And by the way they’ve torn it up, it doesn’t look like anyone could survive it.  

They stand on a sandy beach that stretches for miles.  They keep to the wet sand that feels only slightly cooler than the scorching fire a few feet ahead, the tide swoops in to nip at their feet, but even the water feels warm under the beating sun. Jagged rocks line the shoreline, and very little water even sticks out, it looks like a ring of silver mountains from the distance, and it’s the perfect place to stay hidden if anything comes at them from the water.

“Food is a priority,” Woohyun ruffles Myungsoo’s hair to stop him from glaring daggers at Sunggyu.  “If we head along the beach, we might find a port, at least.”  

There’s a forest ahead, and for a moment Sungyeol thinks of heading that way.  If they luck out, they might find some kind of shrubbery.  But the sand leading to it stretches for miles, and even standing in the sand moistened by the water makes the soles of his feet sting.  And the way to the forest is uncovered, the sharp rocks serve as some sort of cover from water _and_ land. It scares Sungyeol to think that there’s a reason that they _need_ to be hidden.  That almost a week ago people painted his signature face on lotion bottles and now they may think of it as a target for the fire nation.

“Who’s to say it’ll be a _friendly_ port? Sunggyu grumbles.  He shoves his hand in his pockets and lazily kicks some stray wood off into the ocean.  “We can’t just waltz into somewhere and expect them to be all nice and giggly,”

No one really responds to that.  Sungyeol just kicks him in the shin and starts walking up the shoreline.  He tries to focus on the sand lodged between his toes and the cool water that washes over his feet when the tide rolls in.  He tries to ignore Sunggyu’s angered grumbling and focuses on the feeling of relief that everyone slowly starts to follow him.  He tries to ignore the gnawing feeling in his stomach that maybe Sunggyu’s _right_.  Sungyeol sort of expected to waltz into a town, declare their heroism, and have people lining up with beds and food and everything.  Because everyone wants the fire nation to go down, right?  Everyone wants the peace back.  

Then again, maybe they don’t.   

Peace is a heavy price to pay for the loss of a loved one.  The thought makes Sungyeol’s stomach churn.  What if they find something, but a bad something?  What if they’re turned in?  What if, wherever they end up, the people decide to protect themselves?  The shittiest part of all is that Sungyeol can’t even blame them for that.  He’d sacrifice a group of rogue heroes in a second if it meant staying on the good side of the fire nation.   He’s not brave, how can he expect anyone else to be?  

It’s not only Sungyeol that’s moping and dragging his feet up the front lines.  It’s all of them. So Woohyun decides to lighten the mood.  “Let’s play a game,” Woohyun smacks a hand over Sunggyu’s mouth before he even gets a shot at making some dumb, smart-mouthed response.  “Finish the sentence:  the thing I want to do most in the world is…”

No one speaks.

Woohyun sighs.  

The silence drags, and Woohyun awkwardly drops his hand from Sunggyu’s mouth with a defeated expression.   Sunggyu feels a pang of guilt when he spots the crestfallen look in Woohyun’s eyes.  Sure he’s moody, they all are, and Sunggyu isn’t the type to pull false positivity out of his ass.  But he talks anyway, “A slice of chocolate cake the size of the earth nation.”  

Sunggyu expects some type of snark, hopes for it even, and gets it in full force.  “Have you ever _been_ to the earth nation?  You’ll never be able to eat that.” Howon snorts and Sunggyu feels a bit triumphant at the slight glow that returns to Howon’s eyes.  “You should ask for something more reasonable, like…” Howon stutters.  

“Like a collection of lotion bottles with Sungyeol’s face on them?”  Sunggyu smiles when Myungsoo talks.  Because it’s been so long since he has.   Sunggyu knows Myungsoo isn’t a talker, but he’s still Myungsoo and he’s still a kid with a mouth of sass Sunggyu hasn’t heard in a really, _really_ long time.  It feels good to hear it again.  

Everyone else thinks so too, if the whooping laughter is anything to go by.  Sungyeol squawks angrily at first, feathers all rustled and a sharp response at the tip of his tongue, but he drops it with a look at the proud smile on Myungsoo’s face.  “You better believe that’s a prize worth centuries.”

“Sure will keep your hands dry,” Howon snickers.  He deserves the rush of air Sungyeol shoves up his nose.  

“Besides,” Myungsoo continued, “Hyung’ll share the cake with me,”  

“Yes, because _two_ people is the perfect amount to share a cake the size of the earth nation,” Howon snorts the last of the air from his nose and rolls his eyes.  

“Well he’s got me too!”  Woohyun chimes in.  

Sunggyu snorts at that, “No way in hell am I even giving you a lick of the frosting,” His smile grows at the feigned look of hurt on Woohyun’s face.  

“Well you’ll get sick and fat if you eat it all,” Woohyun whines, “I only want to eat some so you stay healthy!”

Everyone laughs so hard they can’t breathe and Sunggyu exclaims (while wiping tears from his eyes), “I’ll eat every last bite and become a fat pig just to make sure you can’t have a single bite,”

Woohyun pouts, Sunggyu laughs harder, and Myungsoo sighs.  “I really wouldn’t mind a regular sized slice of chocolate cake right now,”  

“Wouldn’t we all,” Howon groans and stretches out his arms and looks off as far as he can into the distance. He finds what he expects, sand, miles of it.  He holds in the sigh forming on his lips and almost asks to see a map.   But even if they had one, it wouldn’t matter, not when they’re lost.  Sungyeol breaks the returning silence, and Howon’s brooding thoughts.  

“We shouldn’t tell the truth,” He says.  The weight of his words are large, but a silent agreement swoops over them.  “Not all of it,” Sungyeol continues and swallows the lump forming in his throat.  “We can say we escaped from the raid, just barely, because the fire nation attacked my temple.  I’m sure that much must have spread by now, but anything else…” he trails off lamely.  

Woohyun almost starts to finish for him, but can’t find the heart to continue.  “Yea,” he agrees.  

Before the silence can settle, Myungsoo interrupts it by planting face first into the scorching sound.  He mumbles something into it, and coughs when the salty dirt gets in his mouth.  The reason sits on his back with wide eyes.   There’s a kid, probably no more than 5, with shaggy brown hair that falls into his eyes.  He reaches up and ruffles it around to get it away from his face, but more falls in and the boy gives an exasperated sigh.  He still sits on Myungsoo’s back, shifts himself around to get comfortable even, and looks up at the rest of them with a burning curiosity.  “Um….hello,” Sunggyu tries. 

“Who are you?” The boy snaps back, but there isn’t snark in his voice, only pure curiosity.  It’s refreshing to hear, it’s unrestrained and the wonder gleams in his eyes.  That’s hard to come by these days, the fire nation stomps it out.  But the boy wears a proud smile, shows off his two missing teeth and lets his curiosity run free. 

But they still can’t tell him.  “Travelers,” Sungyeol responds quickly.  “We were on the western air temple when it was attacked, we just managed to escape here.”  Myungsoo continues to struggle underneath the boy, even goes as far as throwing handfuls of sand into his face until the devil scurries off of him. 

“Thanks,” Myungsoo barks, sarcasm thick.  Sunggyu snickers and helps him brush the remnants of sand from his hair while Myungsoo scrubs at his face and spits the taste from his mouth. 

The boy giggles at him, “Are you air benders?” 

“Only I am,” Sungyeol answers again, a little too quickly, but the boy doesn’t catch on.   “He’s an earth bender that was visiting.” He gestures towards Howon who gives the kid a mock salute. “And those three can’t bend,” he lies. 

The kid starts glowing and bounds towards Howon.  “Really? My mommy’s an earth bender too!”  He reaches for Howon with his grubby hands and starts playing with his fingers.  “Can you make pretty sand castles?  Mommy makes pretty sand castles all the time, but daddy gets jealous and makes them wash away.”  The boy giggles.  “Daddy bends water!” 

Myungsoo’s eyes light up, but a warning glance from Sunggyu keeps him quiet.  Howon tosses him a sympathetic look but shrugs, he waves the sand around his finger and morphs it into…something.  The boy frowns. “That’s a really ugly castle.”   Sungyeol doubles over in laughter, and continues to laugh when sand flies up his nose, and laughs even harder when he notices the red blush on Howon’s cheek. 

“I love you kid.”  He declares, the boy giggles back at him. 

They try to play it casual, “Where are you from?”  Woohyun asks, with a hesitant smile.  “You see we don’t have a place to go right now, so do you think you could take us back home?” 

The boy points a chubby finger towards Howon.  “You gotta move the sand!” He declares proudly.  Before Howon can question him, a tiny hand tugs on his clothes and leads him towards a large boulder.  It’s much bigger than the other ones lining the coast, and it sizzles in the heat.  Water crashes against him and the boy looks up at him as if Howon should know exactly what to do.  “Move the sand!” he cries. 

Howon shrugs, but warily parts the sand that surrounds the rock.  Howon keeps the sand moving, but can’t hold in the small gasp, “Woah.”  The sand moves to reveal a pathway, it’s packed together with wet sand, and it looks unstable.  The boy starts sprinting in, and sticks his head up to beckon them with his hand.  Sunggyu shudders, every step they take seems unstable, only Howon and Myungsoo can walk forward confidently.  And Sunggyu realizes it’s a mix of water and sand packed together.  It’s smart, really, no one but the people of the village would think to open it, and even if someone should, it’s easily destroyed.  Perhaps they’ve hit the jackpot, a hidden village can be hiding from only one thing. 

The boy continues to yank on Howon’s pants until they begin to see a trickle of more people.  But before they really get to introduce themselves, a man rushes forward and grabs at the boy.  His face snaps to them in alarm and he shakes the child in front of him, “Song, why are you associating yourself with fire nation fugitives?!”  

Sunggyu swallows.  “Well, fuck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so it's been a year and i have zero excuses, yea i just am swamped with school and have the mental energy to do basically nothing. that being said, hope you liked the chapter!

**Author's Note:**

> It was 2am and I realized wow I want an Avatar AU with Infinite. So this happened... 
> 
> Well, this is canon to Avatar the Last Airbender up to about half of the first episode. So yea, it's not canon at all. I just kinda borrowed the bending idea and the war idea and the fire nation is evil idea.
> 
> Amount of chapters may change, but for now this is the goal


End file.
